At Iqaluit’s Astro Hill, it’s a daily struggle with petty crime

Tim MacLeod, the general manager of Nunastar Properties Inc. in Iqaluit, sits in his office at the Frobisher Inn Jan. 13. Continuing petty crimes at the hotel and other Nunastar properties have prompted MacLeod to post security camera footage on Facebook. (PHOTO BY THOMAS ROHNER)

This ATM at the Frobisher Inn has seen fewer thefts since Nunastar hired a fulltime security guard, MacLeod said. (PHOTO BY THOMAS ROHNER)

The general manager of Nunastar Properties Inc. in Iqaluit, Tim MacLeod, is an experienced tradesmen but managing the company’s properties — which include the Frobisher Inn and the eight-storey high rise — demands some unexpected skills.

“I had no idea that solving crime was going to be part of my job — I’m a carpenter by trade,” MacLeod said during a Jan. 13 interview.

“But all this stuff was going on right in front of my face,” MacLeod said, referring to a host of petty crimes he deals with on a regular basis.

Those crimes include repeated thefts from an ATM, vandalism, damage to property and minor assaults.

Recently, MacLeod took to social media in the hope of curbing crime on Nunastar’s properties, posting on Facebook security camera footage of what appear to be crimes in progress.

On Jan. 6, MacLeod posted videos of two youths damaging a fire panel at the new 700-block of apartments, and two videos of ATM thefts at the Frobisher Inn from a few weeks earlier.

The online attention that MacLeod’s videos attracted helped the RCMP identify and deal with the two youths, MacLeod said.

But perpetrators, especially youth, are an ongoing issue.

“We get a mob of kids coming through the parking lot of the hotel during recess or lunch. A few of them — we’re not even sure if they’re kids from the school — would branch off and go through the cars in the parking lot,” MacLeod said.

Many of those working at the office building next door learned to either leave their cars at home or park on the other side of the building, MacLeod said.

“They see kids stealing from the cars every single day… but nobody would do anything about it,” MacLeod said.

“What I hear from everyone is there’s nothing you can do.”

But MacLeod is determined to do something, and involving the community by posting videos is only part of that “something.”

MacLeod, who has been on the job for about three months but has lived in Iqaluit since 1998, also hired a fulltime security guard, takes pictures of and bans those found on Nunastar’s property who are “screwing around,” and has visited a number of schools to talk to administrators.

“I met with the high school, next door, and they told me throwing kids off the property has drastically improved their attendance,” MacLeod said.

“These youth are committing crimes and if nothing’s done, they’re going to grow up to do more crime, maybe bigger crimes,” he added.

But MacLeod’s work is far from done.

While being interviewed in the Nunastar office at the Frobisher Inn for this story, MacLeod suddenly bolted from the room and chased after a youth he had already banned who was trying to sneak back into the hotel.

Scuffling and yelling could be heard from outside his office. Eventually the youth left, swearing at MacLeod.

And on Jan. 10 MacLeod posted another security camera clip showing a man — whom MacLeod identifies as himself — taking a sucker punch from another man just outside the hotel’s main entrance.

MacLeod said he had called a cab for a young woman who told him she was scared to leave the hotel with her boyfriend.

When the cab arrived MacLeod led the woman to the cab. It was then that the boyfriend suddenly swung his fist, MacLeod said.

“The guy who punched me, he said, ‘Welcome to Nunavut’,” MacLeod said.

A foot-chase ensued, with MacLeod and a Nunastar security guard running after the boyfriend. The chase ended on the beach behind the library, MacLeod said.

“That’s the furthest I’ve run in a long time.”

Police arrived at the beach, where MacLeod had the boyfriend pinned to the ground and arrested the man, MacLeod said.

“This is happening all over the city, this crime. We’re not the only business in town affected by it,” MacLeod said.

“It’s just going on everywhere, and a lot of people are giving up.”