Edmonton business, hit by crime several times, frustrated with police releasing suspect
Chad Osman is done tallying the damage caused during a break-in at his family’s business, Valvo Electrical Supply Ltd, on Monday night — but he’s just getting started on criticizing the way Edmonton police handled the call.
“We catch the guy, we give them the guy and then they just let him go,” Osman told Global News.
Osman said a security guard caught someone who broke into the southside business near 58 Avenue and 87 Street, so family members showed up to help hold the suspect until police arrived.
Osman says police found copper wire and bus bars in the suspect’s backpack.
Surveillance video from the evening of Sept. 7 appears to show the suspect leaving the area on a bike as the officer departed in a police cruiser after questioning.
“The police show up and they let him go,” Osman said,.
“It’s just frustrating. What do we do?”
The Edmonton Police Service responded with a statement.
“The suspect was arrested and charged with break and enter, possession of break and enter tools, and mischief,” said communications advisor Cheryl Voordenhout.
“He was subsequently released on an undertaking with conditions … (and) generally, police must release charged persons as soon as practicable unless the circumstances justify a continued detention.”
Monday’s break and enter is not the first time the family business has fallen victim to crime, and proved not to be the last either.
Just last month, a brand new Ford F-150 was stolen from the property. Then, about an hour before Global News arrived to interview him on Friday, Osman said a bike belonging to one of his workers was stolen — and that theft too was caught on surveillance video.
“Everybody’s frustrated. The robberies, how they’re handling the robberies… you know it’s all slap on the wrist, to the point where they catch and release,” Osman said.
Osman hopes no one gets hurt if crime continues to happen.
“But they don’t show up for an hour, and then the guy leaves.”
According to the EPS website, officers have responded to seven calls in the industrial area where Osman’s family business is situated.
