Manitoba adds more funding to crack down on retail theft, violent crimes

A campaign to curb retail theft and violent crime has been given another financial boost to continue through the next two months.

$774,000 has been added to the Violent Crime and Retail Theft initiative, which had been scheduled to end after August. In early June, the province provided $378,000 to fund Winnipeg Police Service patrols, where officers target retail crime hot spots in the city. That was followed up with an investment of over $1 million in July to continue the work through the summer.

“In the neighbourhood that I represent, Fort-Rouge constituency, neighbourhoods like Osborne Village, it’s been an outpouring from business owners who have said that having the visible presence of the WPS, having the quick response, having people walking through the neighbourhood is really making a difference,” said Premier Wab Kinew.

Matt Wiebe, Manitoba’s Justice Minister adding, “Lots more to say in the coming months, but the bottom line is that we are going to move our feet, we are going to continue taking action, and today we are going to take action, specifically for the crime and the retail crime we are seeing today in the community.”

Winnipeg’s mayor says the city’s police budget went up this year and they do have more police officers coming in.

“The provincial government has supported and is bringing 24 more officers for foot patrol. That will be happening. They are being hired, deployed, and trained,” said mayor Gillingham. “We really need to make sure that we do what we need to do to make our community safer.”

Supt. Dave Dalal, acting deputy chief of the Winnipeg Police Service saying, “They are working with business owners to come up with safety plans. Our community engagement section is providing safety briefings for both citizens and businesses, so it is a multi-pronged approach and of course, we are doing focuses investigations.”

As a business owner in Winnipeg, Brian Scharfstein says he is encouraged to see that changes are happening now.

“These last couple of months have been a tremendous difference and the calls that I get and the people I talk to couldn’t be more pleased that when they get out of their cars in downtown Winnipeg, they don’t have to look over their shoulders,” said Brian Scharfstein, the owner of Canadian Footwear.