Smash-and-grabs are continuing to plague Barrie during the COVID-19 pandemic, but city police say they're on top of it.
As of this week, police officials say the criminals responsible for the recent onslaught of commercial break-ins in Barrie have expanded their targeted areas, with new instances occurring in the city’s north end and into Oro-Medonte Township.
“There have been a few additional break-ins. Our officers, especially on the night shift, are increasing their patrols and are doing what we have to do to find out who is out and why they’re out at those hours of the day. The investigation is remaining active and ongoing,” Barrie police communications co-ordinator Peter Leon said on Friday.
Leon says there were a few commercial break-ins that occurred on Bayfield Street earlier this week.
“We’ve been working and receiving information from the OPP as well. They’ve had some occurrences in their jurisdictions that lead us to believe that some of our occurrences and their occurrences could be related,” he said.
Leon says there was a break-and-enter in Oro-Medonte at a gas station on Highway 11 in Gasoline Alley, just outside the city limits, earlier this week.
“When it happened they made us aware of it, and lo and behold, we had an occurrence that involved a similar vehicle,” said Leon. “When you get video from these locations and you start to see similarities, it increases our investigative capacity.”
While no arrests have been made yet or charges laid, the investigation is still ongoing.
