Jewelry store smash-and-grabs becoming 'commonplace' in Waterloo region and GTA, police chief says
WRPS Chief Mark Crowell calls the trend concerning due to the level of violence
As Waterloo regional police look ahead to 2025, they're reflecting on the past year's crime statistics, and that includes a growing number of violent jewelry store robberies.
In 2024, Waterloo region saw a total of 286 robberies. Five of them were from pharmacies and 156 involved people. But this new year is already seeing an increase in jewelry store robberies.
Last year there were nine jewlery store robberies in total, which was an 80 per cent increase from the year prior. During the first two months of 2025, regional police have already been called to three robberies or attempted robberies at local jewelry stores.
This is a trend Waterloo Regional Police Chief Mark Crowell is calling concerning due to the level of danger the individuals are putting shoppers and employees in.
On Monday, police released dramatic video of a robbery at Kitchener's Fairview Park Mall from May of 2024.
The video shows several masked men entering the store with hammers and a handgun, which were used to smash display cases.
The robbery happens while the store is open and busy with customers, all of whom cower, scream and run out of the store after getting caught up in the middle of the violence.
The suspects are still at large, but police hope showing the public how these types of crimes are carried out can help protect shoppers.
"Individuals coming in mass groups of three, four, five or six," explained Crowell.
"These incidents are happening within a minute or two. Some assailants are leaving the mall before we're even called."
How to stay safe
Many of the jewelry store robberies are now happening during the day while shoppers are present in the mall.
Police are advising bystanders to find a safe place to stay until the robbery is over.
"People are using stolen cars to flee and their sense of care for others seems to be almost nonexistent. So we have to be very careful about the price of life and how we approach these situations," Crowell said.
He adds that police are working with mall management and security, and individual stores to develop intervention plans if their establishment is the victim of a robbery.
"This is not unlike the number of incidents we've seen at Cambridge, Fairview Park Mall and the Waterloo Conestoga Mall as well, and the type of activity that has become commonplace across the Greater Toronto Area and right across the province," he added.
Youth committing crimes
Earlier this month, police were called to attempted robberies at Waterloo's Conestoga Mall on Feb. 1 and Feb. 3.
Following an investigation, police arrested a 15-year-old from Toronto, a 16-year-old from Kitchener, a 17-year-old from Nova Scotia, as well as a 27-year-old from Richmond Hill.
They are all facing attempted robbery with a weapon, disguise with intent and conspiracy to commit indictable offence charges.
The suspects were arrested by the Ontario Provincial Police on Feb. 5, in connection to a jewelry store robbery in Stratford.
There are two outstanding individuals involved in the Waterloo attempted robberies but police are drawing attention to the age of the suspects already in custody.
"Young people being brought into organized crime, manipulated by older individuals looking to leverage the innocence of young people," said Crowell.
"The perception is they won't be facing harsh penalties in the criminal justice system."
Police believe the young people, almost exclusively males, are incentivized to participate in the robberies with the promise of money and a sense of belonging.
While some may believe these robberies are planned and thoroughly organized by the assailants, regional police Deputy Chief Jen Davis says that's not normally the case.
"Oftentimes these youths don't even know each other when they're getting into a vehicle and they're going and doing these robberies," she explained.
"So it's really us trying to get to that next level of who's behind it and who's organizing it."
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