{"source_url": "https://edmontonjournal.com", "url": "https://edmontonjournal.com/news/local-news/its-an-epidemic-retailer-laments-explosion-in-liquor-store-thefts/wcm/14bf3c43-ad69-4cd4-ac54-4af7d7502ea6", "title": "'It's an epidemic': Retailer laments explosion in liquor store thefts", "top_image": "https://postmediaedmontonjournal2.files.wordpress.com/2020/01/cal020518-gyb-1-copy.jpg", "meta_img": "https://postmediaedmontonjournal2.files.wordpress.com/2020/01/cal020518-gyb-1-copy.jpg", "images": ["https://postmediaedmontonjournal2.files.wordpress.com/2019/11/75602454-ice6-w.jpg?quality=80&strip=all&w=150", "https://s2.wp.com/wp-content/themes/vip/postmedia-theme-broadsheet/images/common/logo-postmedia.png", "https://pixel.wp.com/b.gif?v=noscript", "https://postmediaedmontonjournal2.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/ej_300x300_rgb.png?resize=120,120", "https://postmediaedmontonjournal2.files.wordpress.com/2020/01/cal020518-gyb-1-copy.jpg?quality=80&strip=all&w=840&h=630&crop=1", "https://postmediaedmontonjournal2.files.wordpress.com/2020/01/0102_news_firstbaby-w-1.jpg?quality=80&strip=all&w=150", "https://postmediaedmontonjournal2.files.wordpress.com/2020/01/cal020518-gyb-1-copy.jpg", "https://api.pymx5.com/v1/sites/track?event_type=PAGE_VIEW&noscript=1"], "movies": [], "text": "Liquor store thieves are running rampant in Alberta to the point of threatening the viability of their workforce, says the CEO of a large booze retailing chain.\n\nJamie Burns, who oversees Alcanna, the parent company of Liquor Depot stores, made the comments last month and before Calgary police sought public assistance Tuesday in arresting a couple suspected in high-value thefts from six of the chain\u2019s Calgary locations.\n\nPolice say that between Dec. 4 and 27, a man and a woman in their 20s entered a half-dozen Liquor Depot stores throughout the city, making off with expensive bottles of scotch and other whiskies.\n\nBurns said that\u2019s typical of one kind of theft being carried out against an increasing number of retail outlets in the province.\n\nOthers, he notes, have been violent holdups that have left staff members traumatized.\n\n\u201cThe crime is killing us, it\u2019s getting worse and worse,\u201d said Burns.\n\n\u201cAt some point, nobody will want to work at these stores, it\u2019s just awful . . . it\u2019s really an epidemic.\u201d\n\nOn some days, he said, multiple numbers of the company\u2019s Alberta stores are victimized.\n\nBurns said police have told him there\u2019s collaboration among the criminals and big money involved in the activity.\n\n\u201cThis isn\u2019t someone putting a mickey in their pocket when nobody\u2019s looking, it\u2019s an organized business,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re into the millions of dollars lost.\u201d\n\nAs of last September, Edmonton had recorded 5,000 liquor store thefts, a 300 per cent increase over 2018.\n\nIn some cases, stores are swarmed by groups of thieves who brazenly stuff duffel bags with stolen booze.\n\nBurns said Calgary liquor outlets have also been hard hit.\n\nIn 2019, Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis acknowledged the dramatic increase in crime directed at liquor stores on its website, urging operators to employ video surveillance, deadbolt locks, alarm systems and the full strength of prosecution.\n\n\u201cThis bulletin is to advise liquor store licensees of an increase in blatant and unconcealed liquor thefts from stores in Calgary and Edmonton,\u201d it states.\n\n\u201cThese thefts have been linked to low-level organized crime groups.\u201d\n\nIn the December Liquor Depot thefts, police say both suspects are Caucasian, the woman with long dark hair and glasses while the man had blond hair.\n\nAnyone with information on the suspects is asked to call police at 403-266-1234 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-8477.\n\nBKaufmann@postmedia.com\n\nTwitter: @BillKaufmannjrn", "keywords": [], "meta_keywords": [""], "tags": ["Malcolm Mayes editorial cartoons", "Oil Spills", "Press Gallery"], "authors": ["Updated", "January"], "publish_date": "Tue Dec 31 21:56:56 2019", "summary": "", "article_html": "", "meta_description": "Liquor store thieves are running rampant in Alberta to the point of threatening the viability of their workforce, says the CEO of a large booze retailing chain.", "meta_lang": "en", "meta_favicon": "https://secure.gravatar.com/blavatar/9db188f8de0c78297ec188789805e471?s=32", "meta_data": {"robots": "noarchive", "msvalidate.01": "915AE10930FFCE1EFBB9D7838CE66DE7", "description": "Liquor store thieves are running rampant in Alberta to the point of threatening the viability of their workforce, says the CEO of a large booze retailing chain.", "news_keywords": "crime, liquor stores, theft, Alberta, Calgary, Calgary Police Service, business, Liquor Depot", "generator": "WordPress.com", "og": {"type": "article", "title": "'It's an epidemic': Retailer laments explosion in liquor store thefts", "url": 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