Spate of broken windows shatters Windsor business owner's sense of security
Downtown BIA says increased police patrols are needed to protect businesses
The man in dark clothes saunters slowly past the tattoo shop just after 2 a.m., a cigarette dangling from his lips.
Half an hour later he wanders back, again a smoke hangs from his mouth. This time, he stops a few feet away from storefront and hurls something through its front door, shattering the glass along with the owner's sense of security.
"Someone needs to do something, it's an epidemic out here," said Andrew Steptoe, who recently opened Border City Ink on Pelissier Street. "They're stealing everything that's not tied down and smashing everyone's windows."
Steptoe only opened the door to his shop three months before it was busted. In that time he said at least three other windows have been broken on Pelissier or the surrounding streets.
When he heard about the damage, Steptoe feared the worst.
"I was freaking out," he said, adding he was grateful nothing was stolen. "If my machines are gone, that's my whole life."
Shattered glass a costly problem
Located less than a block away, Dan Bombardier of FiveTen Design Factory and Print House, knows that fear all too well. His front window was smashed back in March when thieves made off with an estimated $20,000 in art.
Windsor Downtown Business Association chairperson Larry Horwitz said the vandalism and mischief make it tough for businesses to stay open. The problem is so prevalent the BIA created a fund to help store owners by covering half the cost of repairing their windows.
"Our tenants are barely paying their huge taxes and utilities in this city and they want to survive," he said. "If every week they get a $1,000 or $2,000 bill for windows that's not going to happen."
Horwitz said the solution is for more police to patrol the city's streets, especially late at night after the bars close. But Windsor police Const. Andrew Drouillard said officers are on foot, on bicycles and in cruisers pounding the pavement downtown at all hours.
'Moving upstairs to protect my shop'
Still, that doesn't mean officers can cover the whole city at the same time, so Drouillard said business owners can improve the security of their stores by making sure they're well lit and have surveillance. Another important step is to make no evidence is touched until police arrive.
Community members can play a role too, he added.
"It's important to have good witnesses," Drouillard explained. "We can't be everywhere at once so it's important for the pubic to be the eyes and ears of police as well."
The constable added the force takes broken windows very seriously and asked people to report crimes, even if they don't seem serious, allowing police to track where incidents are happening.
Police have reviewed Steptoe's surveillance video, but he said he was told the quality wasn't good enough to positively identify the man who broke his window.
The business owner now plans to take steps of his own to protect his shop — he's replacing his glass door with smash-proof plexiglass and he plans to stay at the store around the clock.
"I'm moving upstairs to protect my shop and protect everyone's investment around here," he said. "Somebody has to be around."
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