Shop using social media to ID alleged shoplifters

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This article was published 04/01/2024 (636 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Sometimes it takes a village to catch a thief.

An Osborne Village shop used social media to identify alleged shoplifters and get compensation for stolen goods without pressing charges.

“We really needed a different approach,” said Dominika Dratwa, owner of Verde Plant Design. “(It’s) an opportunity to right (thieves’) wrongs and do better.”

Dratwa said shoplifters stole $356 worth of goods in one visit last week. They took candles, home goods and clothing, among other things.

On New Year’s Eve, Verde Plant Design posted pictures and a video of the alleged shoplifters on its social media pages.

Dratwa received a couple of responses accusing the same person. She then announced on social media she’d go to police with information if the perpetrators didn’t come clean within a day.

They did.

First, Dratwa received an anonymous email with an apology. Then the alleged thieves came to the store, masked, and paid in cash the amount owed.

Dratwa said the group met Verde’s delivery driver.

“I do think it’s brave that they showed up in person,” she said.

It’s not her first time posting online and attaining results — within the past year, she connected with a teen who’d stolen goods and got the products back, she said.

The former correctional officer doesn’t want to involve jail if it can be avoided.

“Lock them up and throw away the key is not a good mentality, I don’t think,” Dratwa said. “Jail is not a fun place to be.

“Maybe our city has a lot of crime… but our world is in a crisis, and I really believe that we need to be more compassionate towards others, more understanding.”

She said she warned the recent shoplifters another store owner “might not be so gracious.”

Zohreh Gervais, executive director of the Osborne Village BIZ, expressed happiness upon hearing Verde’s recent outcome.

“We all make mistakes,” she said. “It’s nice to be able to offer people grace to make repairs.”

Still, companies should do what works best for them when it comes to catching criminals, Gervais continued.

“I would never tell a business owner that that is a better choice or a worse choice.”

Sabe Peace Walkers, an Indigenous-led community safety group, patrols Osborne Village.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com