Security awareness rises after hospital thefts

The PAPHR will also be strongly emphasizing to patients not to leave personal items in the room unattended, Dahl said.

“On admission patients and family members are advised … to not leave valuables in a patient room. That can include things like cash or jewellery, simply because it is a public building and it can be a difficult process to control access,” he said.

As for how the thefts occurred, Dahl said it’s hard to track everyone.

He said they do have cameras in various areas in the Victoria Hospital that feed into the security office by the front entrance. He said they have contracted security staff at that site 24 hours a day.

In addition, he said there is limited access to the inpatient areas of the hospital after 8 p.m.

“If you came in you wouldn’t necessarily be able to get up the stairs without assistance or into the elevators without assistance. You can come down. So there is some measures that are taken,” he said.

However, the challenge is if these incidents occurred during visiting hours. Dahl said it’s hard to limit who is coming in and out, as the PAPHR encourages family and friends to visit loved ones in hospital.

“If somebody is coming into visit someone, it’s difficult to say that they may or may not be legitimate,” he said.

At this point, Dahl said, it is unknown what they have captured on surveillance, but the PAPHR is co-operating with the PAPS.

“I guess it would be trying to know and identify where this person was or if they were coming in or out of the building or is somebody going in and out of rooms; things like that. It’s not always easy to find that or pinpoint the time,” Dahl explained on Tuesday.

This isn’t the only time a patient’s belongings have been stolen.

“It really is unfortunate that somebody is taking advantage of people who are in a vulnerable position. You know, they’re patients in the hospital for a reason and so we do want to try to protect, but it is also a building that is open to the public and that presents challenges to completely reduce the risk of this,” he said.

“Putting something that would make that [visiting patients] more difficult is not desirable, so it’s difficult to control movement throughout the building.”

On Monday, the PAPS said it has a description of one suspect so far. This suspect is described as a man who’s about six feet tall with a slim build, long dark hair and a dark complexion.

He was reportedly carrying a briefcase or large bag at the time of the thefts.

-with files from James Bowler

sstone@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @sarahstone84

by Sarah Stone

Security awareness rises after hospital thefts

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