A convenience store chain is looking to take a more active role in the city’s crime prevention strategies.
Mac’s vice-president of operations Tom Moher is in Thunder Bay, meeting with city officials to help figure out ways to curb robberies in the city. One suggestion is having the company join the city’s crime prevention council, something Moher thinks is a good idea.
“For us it’s as much about working with the community to try and reduce crime overall and I think Mac’s can play a very key role in that,” he said.
Moher said it’s about getting as many different people involved and discussing the issue to try and find solutions.
“Ultimately if I was to fast forward a year from now I’d like to say that our involvement with the community at various levels…that as a whole we’ve all worked together to make Thunder Bay a safer place.”
The company is encouraged that in the last four robberies of Mac’s stores in the city, there have been arrests in three of them.
From changing the layout of the store to make it more open to having cameras, Moher said there are things the company has done but the problem will not have an overnight solution.
“You can’t stop those things. You can put in various prevention measures but for us it’s fantastic for us to have seen those apprehension rates increase like that.”
Mayor Keith Hobbs, who met with Moher Thursday, said getting Mac’s on the crime prevention council is a good fit.
The store has done a lot to prevent robberies but the community as a whole needs to get together to address social issues like substance abuse that are a driving force behind the crimes.
The city has already started to take an active role through initiatives like the crime prevention council and drug strategy he added.
