Retail anti-crime program made permanent in new safety strategy By: Tyler Searle Posted: 12:54 PM CST Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024 Last Modified: 12:15 PM CST Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024 Updates

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This article was published 14/11/2024 (297 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A temporary crackdown on crime and violence at retail outlets was deemed so vital that it will become a permanent fixture in Winnipeg.

The Manitoba government announced Thursday it will fund 12 new police positions under the anti-crime initiative that has earned the support of business owners who have been forced to contend with rising shoplifting and threats of violence.

Justice Minister Matt Wiebe made the pledge as he unveiled his government’s definitive plan for public safety.

“What I want for my family is what I want for all Manitoba families: for kids and parents and families to feel safe,” Wiebe said.

“The way that we visualize this report is being a road map, to being our north star, so to speak, of the initiatives and the targets we want to accomplish.”

The 28-page document is a compilation of new and old NDP promises — including stricter legislation, more police on the street and support for communities struggling against rising crime.

Wiebe hinted weeks ago the province was leaning toward making the program permanent. It focuses on the Exchange District, Osborne Village and West End. Provincial funding had been extended several times since it launched in June.

Updated figures provided Thursday indicate the campaign led to 769 arrests and 224 tickets being issued from June 8 to Oct. 25. Additionally, officers engaged with nearly 9,000 business and community members, and recovered $63,000 in stolen merchandise, the province said.

Asked whether the program will be extended to other neighbourhoods, Wiebe said he would “leave it to the experts,” indicating police will know how best to deploy the new officers, who are expected to engage with the community.

The new hires will be part of the Winnipeg Police Service incoming group of recruits, who are expected to be trained and hit the streets next spring, Wiebe said.

The safety strategy also promises a two per cent increase in funding for municipal law enforcement.

The cash-strapped City of Winnipeg has repeatedly asked the province for a new funding agreement as it works on next year’s budget — roughly more than one-quarter of which is typically dedicated to policing.

No city officials were present during the news conference, but Mayor Scott Gillingham spoke about police funding at an unrelated event earlier in the day.

He said Winnipeg’s population has grown by roughly 65,000 people in the past three years, yet the number of police patrol cars on shift has not increased for nearly a decade.

“I want us to be making investments in police services, but to do that, we do need to have a new funding model from the province.”–Mayor Scott Gillingham

“I want us to be looking at the number of resources we have when it comes to policing,” Gillingham said.

“I hear from people in the suburbs, they don’t see the police often enough, and I recognize that. I want us to be making investments in police services, but to do that, we do need to have a new funding model from the province…”

The plan mentions the NDP promise to expand GPS-monitoring of people who are out on bail, to communities other than Winnipeg. The province launched the program in August with a plan to make 100 electronic ankle monitors available within a week.

Wiebe said 14 people were wearing the bracelets when he was last updated, without saying when that was.

The minister said he expects the program to be a success, and believes it could also be an avenue to address domestic violence by enhancing protection-order enforcement in rural areas — another aspect of the safety plan.

The government plans to increase funding and training opportunities for First Nations police officers and safety officer programs, hire 100 new mental-health workers to work alongside first responders (starting with 25 workers by the end of March) and hold a youth summit.

The plan includes a crackdown on the sale of machetes, strengthened impaired driving legislation and a promise to lobby the federal government to reform the Criminal Code.

Tory justice critic Wayne Balcaen criticized the document, which he said “re-hashes” old announcements in an attempt to garner headlines. He accused the NDP of taking credit for strategies suggested or developed by his party.

“There are a whole bunch of promises here, but there are no timelines and there are no measurables at all,” Balcaen said by phone. “I was disappointed. That’s the only word for it.”

Balcaen said while the retail theft initiative has reduced crime in some neighbourhoods, he questions whether thieves just moved on to other areas.

He argued the program ignores the needs of police agencies outside the Perimeter Highway, which are also dealing with a rise in retail crime and violence.

“The two per cent (increase in funding for municipal law enforcement) is really a pittance,” said Balcaen, a former police chief in Brandon. “Rural Manitoba is being shoved to the back burner again.”

Wiebe said the strategy was developed in consultation with representatives from 210 community groups, and takes into consideration issues in other Manitoba cities.

It mentions helping RCMP bolster recruitment and establish a specialized police unit in the Swan Valley region. It also suggests working with First Nations to expand access to self-administered policing.

There is also a focus on restorative justice and educational programs — some of which will be administered from a new jail slated for construction in Dauphin.

“In general, I think it’s important that we continue to update the public about the overall strategy. I’ve talked about this as being a living document, this is not a one and done,” the justice minister said.

—With files from Gabrielle Piché

tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca

Public Safety Strategy November 2024

Tyler Searle
Reporter

Tyler Searle is a multimedia producer who writes for the Free Press’s city desk. A graduate of Red River College Polytechnic’s creative communications program, he wrote for the Stonewall Teulon Tribune, Selkirk Record and Express Weekly News before joining the paper in 2022. Read more about Tyler.

Every piece of reporting Tyler produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.