SURREY RCMP say their Community Response Unit (CRU) is ramping-up retail theft enforcement operations leading into the busy holiday shopping season.

Throughout 2023, Surrey RCMP-CRU have regularly conducted “Boost and Bust” operations that have resulted in numerous arrests and thousands of dollars worth of merchandise being recovered, including an operation in May 2023.

Surrey RCMP-CRU has continued to make retail theft enforcement a priority and on October 25, officers hosted a meeting with several stakeholders to collaborate on building solutions to reduce retail theft while ensuring public safety in retail spaces for shoppers and staff in Surrey. The stakeholders who attended this meeting included the Downtown Surrey, Newton, and Cloverdale Business Improvement Associations, the Surrey Board of Trade, officials from City of Surrey, and major retailers.

As the holidays approach, Surrey RCMP-CRU will be conducting enhanced retail theft operations, which will have police working with retail loss prevention officers in multiple locations on some of the busiest shopping days of the year. The focus will be on thefts that are committed for profit, and prolific offenders who are committing them. The Surrey RCMP Mobile Street Enforcement Team (MSET) will also be conducting Operation Mistletoe, which will run concurrently to enhanced retail theft operations. Operation Mistletoe is an annual retail theft project that focusses on prevention and crime reduction through increased uniformed patrols of retail center parking lots and spaces.