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Winnipeg robbery capital

But numbers are decreasing

By: Gabrielle Giroday

Posted: 03/26/2010 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

CONVENIENCE store manager Shital Patel has a rule: If a robber demands cash, hand it over and hope you're spared.

It's good she's prepared because robbers in Winnipeg are more likely to target convenience stores and gas stations than robbers in most other Canadian cities, according to a Statistics Canada report released Thursday.

Patel's been lucky. Robbers haven't hit the Island Lakes Food Store during her daytime shift there. However, the report indicates robbers hit almost 160 Winnipeg stores last year.

"If you want money, take it, but leave the person alone," Patel said.

Winnipeg was second only to Montreal in the number of gas stations and convenience stores robbed in 2008. Winnipeg led the country in all police-reported robberies. Regina and Saskatoon were second and third.

On winter nights when darkness falls early and neighbouring businesses close, Patel said the convenience store shuts its doors to minimize danger.

Robbery is defined in the Criminal Code as theft of property by violence or the threat of violence. It therefore includes a range of crimes such as carjackings, home invasions, bank robberies and purse-snatchings.

But the Statistics Canada report is not all bad news. It says robberies in Manitoba have decreased by 20 per cent from 1999 to 2008. In the same period, robberies in Winnipeg decreased by 24 per cent.

Winnipeg has seen a large drop in car thefts. Investigators track carjackings and report them as robberies because they involve force.

Even with the decline since 1999, however, the release of the survey is a timely reminder to Winnipeggers the greatest danger of robbery is being strong-armed, said Major Crimes Unit Staff Sgt. Rhyse Hanson. That means a mugging, such as teenagers robbed of their iPod by bullies.

"Lots of time the public has the impression of a robbery of somebody coming into a bank or into a convenience store with a mask and gun," said Hanson. "Well, the vast, vast majority of robberies that take place in Winnipeg aren't that kind of robbery."

The Statistics Canada report notes that 50 per cent of robberies happen in outdoor places such as streets and parking lots, and about 39 per cent happen in places such as schools, banks and stores.

Hanson said most robberies are crimes of opportunity which involve no planning.

"(Robbers) see the victim in front of them, see that they have something that they want -- whether it's the case of beer or the iPod or the cellphone... so they take that instant opportunity," said Hanson. The same things that make convenience stores and gas bars attractive to customers may make them easy pickings for robbers, said Hanson.

"They're close and open 24 hours for the legitimate customer, they're also close and open 24 hours for the not legitimate person," said Hanson. And it's easy to "flip" cigarettes into cash, he said.

gabrielle.giroday@freepress.mb.ca

By the numbers:

Gas station and convenience store robberies per 100,000 population in 2008:

Montreal: 27.6

Winnipeg: 21

St. John's: 20.7

Sherbrooke: 18.6

Hamilton: 18.2

Police-reported robberies per 100,000 population in 2008

(Change from 1999 to 2008)

Winnipeg: 233 (-24%)

Regina: 222 (+31%)

Saskatoon: 212 (+1%)

Vancouver: 171 (-32%)

Edmonton: 171 (+11%)

Montreal: 151 (-32%)

-- Source: Statistics Canada

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition March 26, 2010 B1

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