When a historic bell was stolen from a Fredericton church after Christmas, a security camera from a neighbouring property caught a photo of a pickup truck.
Fredericton police later shared the photo, but the camera could only catch the front of the truck, so “unfortunately, it didn’t include the licence plate,” said the church’s former minister, Ross Hebb.
“And I guess if we had the licence plate, you’d be down by the court covering a slightly different story.”
While a piece of the bell was recovered, the identity of the thief or thieves still remains unknown.
The theft is just the latest case to raise the question of the effectiveness of removing front licence plates, a change made in 2019 by the former Progressive Conservative government.
In 2019, Carl Urquhart, right, the public safety minister at the time, said the decision to remove front plates could be revisited if crime increased. (Government of New Brunswick/Facebook)
At the time, then-public safety minister Carl Urquhart said that if the change led to a “big rush” of crime, bringing back front plates could be considered.
So has New Brunswick reached that big rush? The province’s current government says no, although one frequently hit business would disagree.
Not far from the church, a business in Hanwell has had its fair share of thefts in the past five years.
First it was catalytic converters from the company trucks or vans,
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