STORY BY AMY REID Crime isn't typically what comes to mind when one thinks of Surrey's Grandview area, but close to 10 businesses have been broken into over the last two weeks.
"We're living in this area because we thought it was safe and we thought it was a low-crime area. You know what? Let's nip it in the bud and get them out before we become a known crime area," said Rob Cox, who runs Sheila's Bistro Lounge with his wife at 2181 160th Street.
"In South Surrey, White Rock, you have grandma and grandpa walking down the street, walking their grandchild down the street. That's what you picture in South Surrey, White Rock. You don't picture a 22- year-old punk whipping a rock through a window and doing a smash-and-grab."
But that's what happened to Cox's business in the first week of August. He awoke to his restaurant's alarm going off at 12:50 a.m. after someone had thrown a rock through his restaurant's window.
The thief attempted to get in through his back door as well, he added.
"My security cameras caught everything," he noted. The man in Cox's surveillance video is described as Caucasian, roughly five feet 11 inches tall and believed to be in his 20s.
It's not an occurrence Cox envisioned when he opened the restaurant just one month ago.
"It's been my dream all my life and I literally spent a year and two months building this thing, jumping through so many hoops and for the first-month birthday for the restaurant, I got a great present," he said.
"I call it my first renovation - a rock through the window," Cox added.
During the break-in, his cash box - worth about $225 dollars - was taken, as was the $200 float inside it. As well, his smashed front windows will cost about $500 to replace.
"It's just underneath my deductible, so that's cash out of my pocket," he noted.
And at his nearby deli - located at King George Boulevard and 24th Avenue - he's dealt with a number of robberies over the years.
"I'm out about $6,000 dollars in the last five years because they're just underneath my deductible," he said, noting the recent break-in is the fifth he's experienced.
"It's just frustrating that I'm getting broken into in the area, and not a lot has happened yet."
Cox hopes someone can help identify the suspect from the recent break-in.
"If they don't want to be known, call Crime Stoppers, make an anonymous tip. It's got to stop," he said of the crime.
"All I really want is this guy's mom to see him on either the news or the front page of the newspaper and phone him up and say, 'What are you doing?'" he said, adding he hopes the "wrath of the mother" will be enough to stop them.
"My frustration is nothing's happened, and nothing is happening, and nothing will happen because really, what they've got these guys on is basically throwing a rock through a window. It's theft under $1,000 - they're not going to get anything," Cox added.
A number of nearby businesses have also been hit in the last two weeks in the Grandview Corners shopping district, at 24th Avenue and 160th Street, Crocodile Baby among them.
Manager Susan Smith said the store was broken into on Aug. 2, but nothing was taken.
"It could've just been a kid out for kicks," Smith said. "It's a lot better that they didn't take anything, it was just having to replace a lock."
Smith said other businesses in her complex were hit at the same time as her store, including Rip Curl, Calvin Klein and a restaurant beside her that's yet to even open its doors. Original Joe's Restaurant, also located in Grandview Crossing, has also fallen victim to a recent break in as well.
Danica Sogaard, who works at Rip Curl, said the store has been broken into twice in the past month.
"The first time they came in they popped the locks on our front doors and they stole watches and headphones. The second time they just came in to try and steal cash from our cash drawers. But we don't keep cash on site. They didn't take anything that time," she said, adding the second break-in occurred the same night Crocodile Baby and the unopened restaurant was broken into.
Surrey RCMP Cpl. Bert Paquet said five businesses have reported being broken into on the morning of Aug. 2, all within 30 minutes.
Paquet couldn't say exactly how many stores have been hit over the last few weeks, but said, "it is fair to say that in addition to the five mentioned above, there has been others reported, just spread over a period of time, and not part of a spree."
Paquet said the investigations are still active, involving the property crimes and forensic identification departments.
Asked if police believe one person or group of people is behind all the recent incidents, Paquet said, "at this time, we are considering all possibilities."
As for the photo police supplied to the Now of a suspect breaking into Original Joe's, Paquet couldn't say if police believe that person is behind more of the breakins.
"We can only link this suspect to the crime he is shown committing," he noted.
Anyone with information about any of these incidents can call Surrey RCMP at 604-599-0502, or to remain anonymous, call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS or visit www.solvecrime.ca.
CRIME IS NO. 1 ELECTION ISSUE Crime is sure to be a major issue in the upcoming municipal election, where the city will choose a new mayor, seeing as the incumbent Dianne Watts won't be running for re-election.
In an Insights West poll released March 7, it was found that 51 per cent of residents see crime as the number-one issue.
This came on the heels of Surrey setting a new murder record in 2013. The city recorded 25 homicides last year, while the previous record of 21 was set in 2005.
Then in late July, crime again came in as the top concern at 45 per cent in another Insights West survey Mario Canseco, VP of public affairs at Insights West, noted it's rare for a municipal issue to be at more than 40 per cent, and said he believes "whoever connects better on crime is going to be the winner" in the upcoming election.
Surrey will go to the polls Nov. 15.
areid@thenownewspaper.com