False reports of gas-and-dash incidents across P.E.I. tying up police resources, RCMP say

PEIPolice in Prince Edward Island say it may be time for gas station owners to require people to pay before they pump to help put the brakes on the rising number of gas-and-dash incidents across the province.Federation of P.E.I. Municipalities took ‘great interest’ in pay-before-you-pump modelMarilee Devries · CBC News · Posted: Aug 27, 2025 11:09 AM EDT | Last Updated: 1 hour agoRCMP in Prince Edward Island say gas-and-dash reports in the province are usually resolved without charges being laid. (CBC/Radio-Canada)Police in Prince Edward Island say it may be time for gas station owners to require people to pay before they pump to help put the brakes on the rising number of gas-and-dash incidents across the province.Cpl. Gavin Moore, media relations officer for the P.E.I. RCMP, said calls about these incidents are up — and they take a lot of time for police to investigate. “Each one of these calls requires our dispatcher to take information, generate a file, assign it to an officer,” he said. “The officer then has to follow up and determine if this was in fact a crime or if this was a situation where perhaps video reveals that a person did not tap [their payment card] correctly or had some human error in the payment process. “With each investigation, it does tie up officers to make those determinations.”Cpl. Gavin Moore, the media relations officer for the P.E.I. RCMP, says ‘there’s always legwork that is required’ in gas-and-dash cases that ties up police officers in what often end up being non-criminal matters. (CBC)Moore said there were around 280 reports of gas-and-dash incidents in RCMP jurisdiction last year, with 117 of those occurring in Stratford. He said the vast majority of the cases are resolved without charges.”An individual will go back and make a payment and in which case there is not a criminal intent and charges are not pursued.”Pay before you pumpMoore said a possible solution would be for P.E.I. to pass pay-before-you-pump legislation, which also helps protect gas station staff. “It is important that a co-ordinated approach be taken upon something like this,” he said. “We’ve had our officers present for the Federation of P.E.I. Municipalities, just to ensure that everybody is aware of this issue and that the correct decisions are being made.”In 2008, British Columbia became the first jurisdiction in Canada to enact such legislation, which became known as Grant’s Law — named after a young gas station attendant who was killed trying to prevent a robbery.In a statement to CBC News, the Federation of P.E.I. Municipalities said it took “great interest” in the RCMP presentation on the time and resources being spent on gas-and-dash cases.”We have concerns that this issue adds to the costs of, and the strains on, community policing,” the organization said in the statement, adding that it plans to discuss the issue of pay-before-you-pump at its fall board meeting before making a formal recommendation to the province. In the meantime, Moore suggested people who own gas stations consider pre-payment requirements.ABOUT THE AUTHORMarilee Devries is a journalist with CBC P.E.I. She has a journalism degree from Toronto Metropolitan University. She can be reached at marilee.devries@cbc.caWith files from Wayne Thibodeau