Red Beard Cafe has been broken into for the second time in two weeks, co-owner Mitchell Forgie discovered on the morning of March 16, 2022.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED/Mitchell Forgie

A coffee shop in North Kamloops is on the mend after facing its fifth break and enter in less than three months.

Co-owner of Red Beard Cafe, Mitchell Forgie, showed up Wednesday morning, March 16, to find a smashed window - the second time in as many weeks.

"Things are out of control," Forgie said. "The biggest problem is we have prolific offenders on the street who aren't dealt with."

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Alcohol was stolen from the café twice in two weeks, Forgie said. Plywood is still on the window from the last break-in.

During the past year, the restaurant has had empty kegs, propane tanks and firewood stolen from a gated compound outside, he said. At least once, the chain link fence was cut by the intruder to gain entry. Another time, a ladder was stolen from a nearby construction zone to climb over the fence.

When the firewood was stolen at 8 p.m. one day within the last year, he said people used it to start a fire in the back of the Ask Wellness building. The non-profit society helps those who struggle with housing, health or employment.

"We watched as five people actively fanned the flames on the back of Ask Wellness," he said. Police arrived shortly after and dispersed the five people.

Despite this, he said business is as good as ever at Red Beard, and believes its likely the same for many other businesses in the area.

"It's been a complicated year. It's hard to know how anything like that has affected business directly. As far as the North Shore goes, there's no shortage of good news, too," Forgie said, adding he has record mid-February sales typically seen during the busier summer months.

Forgie said in nearly a decade of running a business next to the non-profit society, there have been very few problems, and when there were, the social service agency was responsive and quickly dealt with the issues.

However, he said the last year has been challenging for him and others along the Tranquille Corridor because property crime is not enforced through the court system.

While social service agencies may bring a street-entrenched population to that neighbourhood, he said he and his staff have very few issues during the day. The problem, he said, is overnight property crime where Red Beard property is stolen overnight.

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The North Shore business community is developing a proposal for its own neighbourhood patrol, in an effort to curb social issues on Tranquille Corridor streets.

Within the next year, the North Shore Business Improvement Association is working on a plan to create its own task force to address social issues along the corridor.

While it's still in planning stages, association executive director Jeremy Heighton told Kamloops city council Tuesday that the association has been discussing what that model could look like with the City bylaw division.

It would likely include services to clean up graffiti, litter and needles, and potentially include de-escalation training, which is something the Downtown Kelowna task force trains its employees to do.

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Forgie said this could benefit the corridor, but wonders if the Ask Wellness outreach program could use more funding as it already deals with some of the same issues, including de-escalation and needle pickup.

He added, however, that social issues and homelessness are distinct from property crime that troubles core areas of Kamloops, and that he believes property crime will persist unless some of the prolific offenders are dealt with by the courts.

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