BURST
B.C. businesses often aren’t bothering to report property crimes, even as those crimes are adding up to millions of dollars a year in losses, according to a survey from the Business Improvement Association of B.C.
Nearly nine out of 10 B.C. businesses surveyed said they were subject to property crime in the past year but 40 per cent didn’t bother reporting them.
Respondents said they often left crimes unreported because of long response times, lack of followup, low confidence that incidents would be resolved and the perception that reporting doesn’t lead to meaningful outcomes.
Jeremy Heighton, BIA B.C. president, said the survey was organized to put numbers behind the stories he was hearing.
The survey of 260 businesses was conducted in November 2025 and is non-representative. No margin of error can be calculated.
“We know anecdotally, these issues exist across the province, but we needed actual data to prove it,” Heighton said, adding the numbers were much higher than expected. “To have 90 per cent (of respondents) say that nonviolent repeat offenders are a problem really highlights the issue.
“The reality for many B.C. businesses is that non-violent repeat crime is a constant, daily pressure,” he said in a statement.
The results were released just days after London Drugs announced it would be closing its store in Vancouver’s Woodward’s Building in the Downtown Eastside over similar issues.
Chrisie Berry, executive director of the Downtown Prince George BIA, said that in a survey his BIA conducted last September, 55 businesses reported estimated losses of $4.5 million. That included damages from a fire that burned down a $2 million restaurant and distillery in a case of arson , the second major blaze in a year.
“People loved going there. The patio was always attracting people. They would do street festivals,” Berry said of the restaurant.
The owner of the business told city council last September that he wanted to rebuild but not in downtown due to crime.
While the fire was dramatic, Berry said broken windows were the most common issues raised by her members.
“There are several businesses downtown that do not qualify for glass break insurance anymore just due to the sheer volume of broken windows,” she said.
The experiences of many businesses aren’t reflected in statistics on property crime in Prince George, which have shown a steady decline in the past few years.
RCMP Supt. Darin Rappel acknowledged in a January presentation to Prince George city council that at least some of that decline was because people were simply not reporting crimes.
“We do see to some degree that that is the case,” he told councillors, noting the RCMP recently launched a campaign to encourage crime reporting .
The under-reporting of crime was a key concern for Howie Reimer, executive director of the Kamloops BIA.
“If things aren’t solved or dealt with in a timely fashion, people just become discouraged,” he said. “It’s exhausting.”
Reimer said RCMP and community officials have been “very responsive” to streamlining the reporting process.
“We’re trying to work together the best we can,” he said.
Both Prince George and Kelowna recently announced expanded foot patrols, something Reimer supports in the short-term.
“It is only a Band-Aid solution, but it’s a Band-Aid that is needed until we can take care of the more critical issues,” he said. “What we really need are things like housing, and treatment and recovery, and bail reform, and more judges and community courts. The greater solutions have to come from the provincial and federal levels.”
In December 2025, the province launched a pilot program in Kelowna, Nanaimo and Nelson to address chronic property and public disorder through enhanced enforcement, monitoring and interventions of repeat offenders and other people of concern, according to the Public Safety Ministry.
“We know that incidents like this can have a serious impact,” Nina Krieger, minister of public safety, said in an email. “We recognize that people and businesses expect continued action. We will keep working with police and partners to strengthen enforcement, uphold public safety and support safe, vibrant communities,” Krieger said.
So far, Reimer said, the provincial response “hasn’t been enough.”
“People do know what the solutions are. Now it’s a matter of getting people together and co-ordinating across different levels of government and within the community,” he said.