Roofer not impressed with police response to trailer theft

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This article was published 23/09/2022 (1414 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A local roofing company’s project manager is frustrated after a work trailer equipped with a GPS tracker was stolen Wednesday night — and thinks police did little to help after staffers tracked it to a garage.

Rick Lavalee of Pristine Roofing and Siding said the company, which has its office on Fleet Avenue off of Pembina Highway, has had three trailers and a van stolen in recent years. That prompted the owners to install GPS beacons on all of their equipment, he said.

“Two nights ago we came back to the office and noticed there was a trailer that had been stolen, so we looked it up on the security-camera footage and, sure enough, we saw it getting stolen,” Lavalee said.

“They then went to the GPS and they noticed that it wasn’t that far away.”

Staffers drove to the located trailer on a street near Grant Park mall and found it was likely parked in a locked garage, Lavalee said, but the garage owner wouldn’t open it up.

“They left and we called the police and the police basically said they’d do nothing, because it’s in the garage and they can’t do anything,” Lavalee said.

Lavalee then took to social media, while roofing company workers drove through the area in marked vehicles, he said.

“At about four o’clock (Thursday), the trailer started moving, we noticed it on the GPS, and then it stopped, and we thought (the alleged thief) took the GPS off maybe and just took the trailer,” Lavalee said.

“We called the police, and the police went and looked, and sure enough the trailer was a block away… he had so much heat on him he just dumped the trailer. It had already (had the company decals removed and had been) repainted, it was ready for resale, but obviously he couldn’t find where the GPS was so he didn’t bother taking it off.”

Lavalee said the company has recovered the approximately $15,000 dump trailer and will soon put it back in service.

He said he understands the police’s legal limitations, including the need for search warrants, but was irritated with the response, adding he thinks it was the social media and company pressure that led to the trailer being dumped.

“I’m irked by the fact that there is so much of a… let’s call it a shoulder-shrug mentality — like, ‘Oh well, we can’t do anything,’” Lavalee said.

Police confirmed the sequence of events, but spokesman Const. Jay Murray said officers are bound by legal requirements.

“We sympathize with those who find their stolen property or track it to a location, but in many situations, we have no legal authority to enter a private address without a warrant — meaning we cannot start searching properties out of suspicion,” he said in an email.

The spokesman said officers need time to gather evidence to apply for a warrant based on reasonable grounds.

“Officers attended and completed a lengthy report, which was immediately forwarded to our property crime unit and assigned to a detective that same day,” Murray said.

“While (legal requirements) are in place for a good reason, the public isn’t always aware of those obligations, and it can be tough to comprehend in an emotional situation.”

No one has yet been charged, but the investigation is continuing, police said.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @erik_pindera