Bear spray sales records rarely accessed: police

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This article was published 23/02/2023 (928 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Law enforcement in Manitoba do not regularly request access to retail records of bear spray sales, police authorities say.

Retailers (such as sporting goods stores and wilderness outfitters) are required by provincial legislation to be licensed to sell the wild animal deterrent, with at least one staffer trained in the sale of dangerous pesticides.

The product must be kept out of sight, in a locked case, to fit regulations, which fall under Pesticides and Fertilizers Control Act.

People who want to buy the product are required to fill out a form with their name and information, and retailers are required to keep records of sales and the forms.

Those records are then sent to the Manitoba agriculture department. The regulations came into effect in 2009.

Manitoba RCMP spokesman Sgt. Paul Manaigre said, to his knowledge, Mounties seldom access those records.

“If access were needed, we could review the documents but I’m not sure what evidentiary value those documents would provide to us, as we would lay charges based on its use and not its purchase,” Manaigre said Thursday in an email.

Winnipeg Police Service spokeswoman Const. Dani McKinnon said requesting bear spray sales records is not something the city service does routinely.

“For context, serial numbers are very easily defaced, removed, covered up. And just because someone purchases the product does not make them complicit in a crime it is used in. To prove the chain of custody of that particular bear spray is difficult,” she said in an email.

Asked by the Free Press what the province does with those records, if the documents are not regularly requested for police investigations, a spokesperson said: “With respect to police investigative practices and how they may or may not chose to utilize available evidence, it would be inappropriate to comment on that from a government perspective.”

The provincial spokesperson said a failure by retailers to follow sales requirements can result in a licence suspension and/or fines, and Manitoba Agriculture works with police and regulatory agencies for compliance checks and ticketing.

“No stores in Manitoba have lost their licences over the past three years for selling bear spray, though the province is currently investigating one store over a possible violation,” the spokesperson said, adding the agriculture department encourages illicit bear spray sales be reported.

On Tuesday, WPS Chief Danny Smyth said it’s worth considering a further crackdown on such products, following a string of assaults Feb. 19, in which at least three people were injured.

Change could come via industry regulations or tightened legislation, he added.

Manitoba Justice Minister Kelvin Goertzen told reporters this week he has been working with agriculture officials to try to track down the most likely source of bear spray that has been used as a weapon.

However, Goertzen said he thinks banning or more heavily restricting the product could prevent law-abiding citizens from buying it, while criminals would still access it illegally.

Potential legislative changes to target the possession of modified cans of bear spray have been discussed with his federal counterpart, Goertzen said.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @erik_pindera