Kelowna cops bust 34 shoplifters in Operation Barcode

Kelowna RCMP have used a highly successful undercover program that targets shoplifters in local stores to make multiple arrests and recover stolen property. Operation Barcode was created by officers at the Vancouver Police Department and has been successfully cloned by police across the country, including in Kelowna. Officers with Kelowna’s Community Safety Unit teamed up with security guards at several retailers for five days from May 7 to May 11 in an undercover operation to bust the stick-fingered suspects, according to an RCMP media release. RCMP don’t say which retail outlets benefited from crackdown. And it worked. Officers arrested 34 arrested suspects, laid 21 charges, gave seven people store bans, while six got restorative justice referrals and three suspects wanted on warrants were arrested. The plainclothes officers and the security officers at the stores recovered more than $6,000 in merchandise. “Shoplifting remains one of our Crime Severity Index drivers and we will continue these types of initiatives until these figures change and we see more palatable numbers as a community,” Kelowna RCMP Sgt. Scott Powrie said in the release. To contact a reporter for this story, email Howard Alexander mailto:halexander@infonews.ca  or call 250-309-5343 or email the editor mailto:news@infonews.ca . You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom mailto:tip@infonews.ca  and be entered to win a monthly prize draw. We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above. SUBSCRIBE to our awesome newsletter here https://infotel.ca/newsletter .