Caught on camera: Mic Mac Mall security guard stops suspected thief

A security guard stopped a thief at a Nova Scotia mall on Wednesday.

A video captured by witnesses at Mic Mac Mall in Dartmouth, N.S., shows a man tussling with a security guard for a bag alleged to be filled with stolen merchandise on Wednesday.

The security guard eventually managed to take the bag away from the suspect, who fled empty-handed.

Kent MacDonald, the owner of a private security company, calls the security guard’s actions “commendable.”

“Working in the security field, a lot of times it’s a very thankless job and you’re just kind of looked at as the fun police or someone who’s just a hindrance,” says MacDonald.

MacDonald says situations like these happen more often than people might think.

“There was a point for many years that -- and this is true of a lot of circumstances -- where someone in a security uniform was in and of itself a visual deterrent,” he says.

But times have changed and so has the level of danger for those in the security field.

“They’re not just taking their own life into their hands; they’re taking the perpetrator’s life in their hands. Because once you’ve detained an individual, believe it or not, you’re now responsible for them. Full stop,” he says.

Experts say retail crime remains an overlooked issue, and its impacts are felt across the board.

Bruce Winder, a Toronto-based retail analyst, says it has costly effects on businesses big or small.

“It’s brutal. its a massive impact on small business. And you might say, ‘Don’t worry, they have insurance to cover it.' Well, guess what, their insurance rates go up significantly,” says Winder.

He says governments need to work harder to address the issue.

“Something has to be done. The rules don’t work. Maybe the penalty isn’t severe enough. Maybe the jail time isn’t severe enough,” he says. “We can’t keep paying for this … as consumers that goes back into our retail prices, so we’re all paying for this,”

Halifax police say the investigation into the incident is ongoing.

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