Ancaster business owners fed up with theft

Two local business owners are getting fed up with the level of theft they’re seeing in their area.

One of the business owners says in the more than 20 years he has been in the Ancaster Business Park, he has never seen it like this – and he wants more police presence.

“They’re here for an hour, hour and a half, they’re brazen, they don’t care, they’re not afraid of anything. They’re not afraid of a policeman coming down the road,” said the owner of S&S Electrical Services Inc., Steven Jones.

Jones owns a building in the Ancaster Business Park where he also runs his electrical service business.

He’s been here for over 20 years, but says only in recent years theft has become a problem.

“About 20 months ago we were broken into, in one of the units, we changed our unit since. A whole bunch of guys come, stick bars under the door, bust open the door,” said Jones.

An alarm scared the thieves away, but that was just the start.

This past week one of the tenants in Jones’ building had a catalytic converter stolen off his truck. And just six weeks ago his trailer was stolen.

“Somebody actually unhooked the trailer off of my truck, pulled it backwards, and hooked up to it and took one of my trailers,” said the owner of Water Tech Industrial, Larry Kiers.

The business owners say they have the thieves on video, but they feel police aren’t doing enough. And these robberies are costing them hard earned money.

“My business is down right now. I don’t have a truck to drive while it’s in the shop. I’m very busy. I don’t have the time to mess around with this kind of stuff,” said Kiers.

Hamilton police say there have been three reported incidents at Jones’ building.

These include a dump trailer being stolen in June – it was later recovered.

In March of last year, a 16-foot trailer with a $22,000 snowrator inside it was stolen. Those were not recovered.

And in February of last year, a vehicle was broken into and minor items were stolen.

In all incidents, police say there was “insufficient evidence” to either lay charges, or continue investigating.

“Anything that has happened here, they say file a report, file an online report. I don’t see a police officer, they don’t ask for anything, they don’t come for videos. I know other businesses in the area have been broken into. They don’t want to say anything because they don’t want to be targeted again,” said Jones.

Jones says he wants to see police come by the area once in a while on weekends and at night when it’s quiet. He is also planning to start a petition to see if the city can assist with security in the area.

READ MORE: Halton police seek man involved in Oakville home invasion robbery