{"id":521206,"date":"2026-03-07T21:32:21","date_gmt":"2026-03-07T21:32:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/521206\/"},"modified":"2026-03-07T21:32:21","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T21:32:21","slug":"thefts-in-ottawa-seeing-an-uptick-police-data-shows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/521206\/","title":{"rendered":"Thefts in Ottawa seeing an uptick, police data shows"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Ottawa police are noting that <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/OttawaPolice\/status\/2030012385738564067\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">thefts in the nation\u2019s capital are sharply increasing in 2026.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>According to data shared by the force, all types of theft \u2014 $5,000 under and over and of a motor vehicle \u2014 rose by 28 per cent year-over-year. Officials noted that 2,700 reports have been filed as of Feb. 12, a large jump seen compared to the same period last year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cReports involve retail merchandise, construction tools and copper, online marketplace transactions, and distraction-style incidents,\u201d it details.<\/p>\n<p>To date, police have charged 334 people in theft-related cases, with another 102 given warnings, diversions or other consequences. <\/p>\n<p>Thefts where people are injured <\/p>\n<p>However, there are several individuals still outstanding that police are looking for.<\/p>\n<p>Including a retail theft involving a woman pushing a baby stroller around a store, using it as a deception tool. <\/p>\n<p>According to a press release, <a href=\"https:\/\/ottawa.citynews.ca\/2026\/02\/20\/woman-uses-baby-stroller-to-steal-items-from-store-police-allege\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">police are looking to identify the suspect who they believe was connected to a commercial robbery<\/a> that happened in January. The incident took place in the 600 block of Kirkwood Avenue around 3:30 p.m.<\/p>\n<p>Security footage, police detail, shows the woman walking through the store and filling a baby stroller with products, before she leaves the store without paying. <\/p>\n<p>When store security approached her, she sprayed a noxious substance on the officer and another employee before running away.<\/p>\n<p>She is described as a white woman, 30 to 35 years old.<\/p>\n<p>Another high-profile incident happened at a Walmart store in the city.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ottawa.citynews.ca\/2026\/01\/13\/3-suspects-wanted-after-aggressive-thefts-from-walmart-stores-in-ottawa\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Several \u201caggressive\u201d thefts where employees were injured, happened at multiple Walmart stores<\/a>. Officers said that when the suspects were confronted by employees of the store, they became aggressive and assaults on staff were reported.<\/p>\n<p>Police are concerned \u201cabout the escalating behaviour\u201d and the risk to employees and the public.<\/p>\n<p>They are looking for three suspects. <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"536\" data-id=\"4355297\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/G-jgg7TXYAEbQ_z-1-1024x536-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4355297\"  \/>Police are looking for three suspects in connection with multiple retail thefts. (OPS)<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" data-id=\"4355298\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Grocery-robbery-1024x576-1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4355298\"  \/>Officials are asking anyone with information on the suspect pictured to contact police. (OPS)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ottawa police are noting that thefts in the nation\u2019s capital are sharply increasing in 2026. According to data&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":521207,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194295],"tags":[49,48,20739],"class_list":["post-521206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ottawa","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-ottawa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=521206"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521206\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/521207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=521206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=521206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=521206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}