Grave new world

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This article was published 08/09/2023 (758 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Scott Stephen’s crew can cook perfect steaks and manage bustling restaurants.

They didn’t sign up to handle violent customers, brazen dine-and-dashers and wanderers experiencing psychosis.

In response to an anecdotal rise in crime, the Manitoba Tourism Education Council (MTEC) has created free videos and courses addressing safe practices for hospitality and tourism sector workers.

It’s the first time the 34-year-old non-profit has felt the need to offer such resources.

Stephen, operations manager for The Keg Steakhouse and Bar’s three Winnipeg locations, attended the first in-person course this summer.

He sat in an MTEC classroom with more than 20 other hospitality and tourism workers. Around 50 people joined online.

“(It) was sort of an eye-opener,” he said. “It didn’t matter what socioeconomic (class of) business you had, where you were situated — everyone’s going to have the same problem.”

Police experts explained drug psychoses and safe practices in potentially violent situations. Entrepreneurs shared their own experiences throughout the course.

“(Crime is) requiring everybody’s attention,” Stephen said. “The more attention (and money) we have to spend on security, the less we have to spend on other things to help build our business.”

The Keg’s management teams will take the MTEC’s security courses, Stephen said.

The education council has uploaded some of its safety practices series to its website. There’s a 75-minute course for front-line employees detailing how to handle difficult situations, a 55-minute video on strategies to combat crime, and a place to register for upcoming workshops on crime prevention and personal safety tactics.

Shorter safety videos, including one on being aware of your surroundings, have yet to be uploaded.

“There’s an urgency to this,” Shannon Fontaine, the council’s CEO, said of the series.

She attended a Manitoba Restaurant and Foodservices Association (MRFA) meeting earlier this summer where she heard accounts of crimes against businesses.

“I had no idea — the blatant walking behind the bar of a restaurant, taking bottles and walking out,” Fontaine said.

“There’s always been crime, but not like this.”

Restaurateurs have repeatedly spoken out about break-ins — at Tommy’s Pizzeria and Four Crowns Restaurant, among many others — and dine-and-dashes. An Olive Garden server was stabbed in the neck during a random attack in June.

Fontaine connected with Winnipeg police and training specialists following the MRFA town hall. In the new videos, police talk about when to call for help, Fontaine said.

“If one person doesn’t get injured because they learn something, it’ll all be worth it,” she added. “People have this thing, thinking they should do something, and sometimes you just can’t.

“It’s really (about) trying to avoid being a victim.”

MTEC spent roughly $20,000 on the initiative. It has two hybrid sessions slated — people can attend over video call or in person — for personal-safety and crime-prevention strategies. The three-hour sessions will take place on Sept. 13 and Oct. 4, respectively.

The sessions will continue in the coming months, Fontaine said.

Manitobans who take the “Handling Difficult Situations, and When You Shouldn’t” online course receive a certificate upon completion.

Anyone can access the free materials, Fontaine added.

“We want our city back. We’re working in tourism — you don’t want people afraid to come here,” she said.

The apparent spike in crime comes during the hospitality industry’s post-pandemic recovery, she noted.

The Winnipeg Police Service did not respond by print deadline to questions, including one about whether it tracks the number of crimes committed at tourism and hospitality locales.

Police clocked 48,896 property crimes and 13,622 violent crimes in Winnipeg over the 12 months ending last May, up 12 and 18 per cent, respectively, from the year prior.

Winnipeg police tracked 46,238 property crimes and 10,054 violent crimes during the same time span ending May 2019.

“Our whole industry has been flipped upside down,” said Ray Louie, general manager of The Gates on Roblin and a member of the MRFA’s board. “We’re dealing with a young workforce.”

During the pandemic, many career restaurant staff left the industry. Now, many businesses are scrambling to catch up with training, Louie said.

It comes during a seeming increase in mental health issues and drug usage since the pandemic began, he added.

“A lot of city restaurants are seeing more violence, and the potential for violence,” he said. “Without some sort of strategy to cope with panicked diners and panicked staff, that can lead to far more chaos than if they had been prepared.”

Education is useful, still, the onus isn’t entirely on businesses, he added. He believes more government support for mental health care is needed.

“If someone comes in and has dinner, then pulls a knife and stabs a server, I can tell you that’s a societal problem,” Louie said.

Stefan Tergesen, owner of H.P. Tergesen & Sons, a retail shop in Gimli, said theft and property damage is “an endless battle” as a business owner.

“Trying to stop theft, you can find yourself in as much trouble (as the thief),” he added, applauding MTEC’s new safety programming.

The videos, courses and links to sign up for in-person sessions are found at mtec.mb.ca/online-training.asp.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com