Stealing thieves’ thunder: private security has made theft at Steinbach job sites disappear

Thieves who stole copper wiring, construction tools — even 37 bundles of shingles off a two-storey roof — have sparked the City of Steinbach to hire private security to fight back.

Waldo Neustaedter, a local developer, said the number of thefts from his job sites and others, leaving thousands of dollars in damage in their wake, have dropped dramatically since the city began a security service pilot project in July.

“It has just been a night and day difference having this protection,” Neustaedter said.

“It was tough in the spring. It may seem like petty theft, when you get $15 for copper wiring, but it costs us thousands in damages. You want to keep the cost of building down so houses are more affordable to buyers, but then this happened.”

Neustaedter said the most audacious theft was the shingles.

“We had the shingles on top of a two-storey townhouse. They climbed up to the top, about 27 or 30 feet. It’s dangerous. But they threw them down and away they went,” he said.

In another incident, Neustaedter said tools left overnight by workers building an apartment block were stolen.

“Someone then came back and found there were no tools there so they started putting holes in the drywall. You have theft and you have damage and at the end of the day it is costly,” said Neustaedter.

Steinbach Mayor Earl Funk said funding two security guards costs the city about $145,000 a year while an RCMP officer — with training, uniforms, a police car and other equipment — costs $245,000, a price the city would share with Ottawa.

He said it is the results that matter most.

“We’re having great success for the costs. When they go to a place, it’s like rats running off a sinking ship — the thieves just start running while security calls 911.

“They’re ending up being another pair of eyes and ears for the RCMP. We feel we are helping the RCMP.”

Reeve Bill Gade, of the Municipality of Swan Valley West, said he is impressed at Steinbach’s success.

“We have program funding from the province for a (general investigation section) program with the RCMP, but it has now been two years and they still haven’t found the officers for it,” Gade said.

“Steinbach was able to get security to start doing the job and that’s great. Steinbach is doing it and it has worked.”

Gade said the results are similar to what the Town of Swan River sees when volunteers patrol the community.

“When they come out, it makes a difference,” he said. “Having a presence out there, they can catch it before it happens.”

Brian Brunelle, owner of Steinbach Security Services, said Steinbach City Council hired the business as part of a pilot project in July. They are so happy with the results that they have budgeted the security for all of next year.

“We provide a seven day a week nightly patrol,” Brunelle said. “Our job is to be out there and deter the crime.

“We have surveillance cameras and if we come across a crime we can send the recording to the RCMP. We also use cellphones to record. We’ve stopped theft at over 22 construction sites.”

Brunelle said he would like to see other Manitoba municipalities take advantage of Steinbach’s success.

“The province should be doing more with security companies,” he said. “We have feet on the ground and we could be doing a lot more.

“At the end of the day, if we can let these RCMP officers take a breath, that helps.”

Rural Municipality of Hanover Reeve Jim Funk said the community, which surrounds Steinbach, has had problems with theft, but instead of hiring security, it created a part-community safety/bylaw officer position two years ago.

“I don’t want to say (theft) has corrected itself, but we did have quite a lot of trouble with theft before that,” Funk said.

“The community safety officer has not dealt with any thefts, but he is always around and visible and that has helped.”

The Association of Manitoba Municipalities says while Steinbach is the only community it knows of that has hired private security, several others have created community safety officer positions.

AMM executive director Denys Volkov said the organization is in favour of changes to the federal bail system, deploying more RCMP officers to Manitoba, and other “enhanced measures to combat crime in communities.

“Having said that, some municipalities have chosen to hire community safety officers and private security to help address public safety concerns within their jurisdictions,” Volkov said.

“It is essential that all orders of government work together to address crime and public safety.”

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca