Pearl Lorentzen

Lakeside Leader

Every now and then, Slave Lake is mentioned on the television news.

A recent example, is Vicki Rice being interviewed on CTV News.

Asked about the CTV interview, Rice says, “it was different, but it was okay. It gets people’s attention.”

The issue that she wanted to bring to people’s attention was property crime.

Rice is the owner of Cozy Toes n Clothes Boutique on Main St. In Slave Lake. The invitation to be interviewed was prompted by a video of her chasing down a woman who stole eight pairs of jeans from her store.

A good way to get people to come into her shop is to have a rack of clothing outside, she says. On that day, she had jeans out. She watched as a woman removed pairs of jeans and laid them over her shoulder. It seemed suspicious, so she kept watching as the number piled up. Then the woman ran away. Rice took off after her. When she caught up with her, the woman denied having the jeans, but was holding a bundle. She dropped it, and the jeans spilled out.

“It’s getting really bad in town,” says Rice.

Asked about shoplifting, Rice says, “that’s always been a thing. This is the first of this sort.”

It was not the first significant theft however. A few weeks earlier, three individuals broke the front window of Cozy Toes. They stole jewelry, her laptop and payment system.

This was part of a three week period, with at least two other businesses and a church broken into. One of the other businesses was broken into twice.

The police have arrested one male in the Cozy Toes theft and are looking for the other two. The one who was arrested is out on bail.

The woman who stole the jeans is known to police.

“The police is just telling me not to put the racks outside anymore,” says Rice.

These crimes are part of an increase in property crimes in Slave Lake.

An article in the September 6 Leader says that, property crimes were up 16 per cent in Slave Lake, but down 40 per cent in the M.D. of Lesser Slave River. The article also says that crimes against people are down.