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Theft has become an hourly rather than an everyday problem for many businesses in Winnipeg.
A local grocery store owner said he dealt with at least six shoplifters in the first hours of opening his two stores on Monday.
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Shoplifting is underreported in Manitoba, retail council says
“Ridiculous,” said Food Fare owner Munther Zeid. “That’s almost one per hour.”
Shoplifting is often brazen and daring, Zade said, and thieves rarely try to do it undercover.
“How many blocks of cheese do you need to eat? It’s a multiple.. four or five of this, like five of that,” he said.
“There was a couple who literally arrived half an hour ago. They stole and we took it away from them but they are still asking if they can continue shopping. Really?”
Retail store theft continues to be a major problem that costs businesses a lot of money each year.
The Retail Council of Canada recently told Global News that about $200 million in merchandise was stolen in the year before the pandemic. But with the rising cost of living, that number has skyrocketed.
“Every time the economy weakens, theft increases,” said John Graham, Director of Prairie Area Government Relations.
Graham also said nearly 30% of thefts go unreported because businesses know police are too busy to respond.
“There are high-priority issues that they are focused on and[they]cannot be present at every incident,” he said. “The gap is that retailers have not reported incidents other than the more violent and destructive ones.”
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That’s one reason the Retail Council of Canada spearheaded a pilot project that started in September. The group is working with a number of retailers, the RCMP, Winnipeg police and other stakeholders to gather as much data as possible on all thefts over a period of time. Analyzed.
“We basically mine the data and see patterns between individuals that are occurring,” he said.
For example, if one thief shoplifts at multiple retail stores, they may all appear to be minor incidents. reported respectively.
“[They]are still pulling their knives, they are threatening, they are imposing … but all of a sudden there is this amount of incidents coming from one individual, and we have a better idea of what is going on in the retail environment. can understand.”
Graham says a small number of big-money criminals account for about 80% of all thefts.
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“If we can get 10 percent of that small group off the streets, we can create a safer environment for retailers, retail employees, or consumers,” he says, which will have a knock-on effect in the community as well. I added that it produces
“Not only are they sacrificing the retail environment, they are causing incidents at other stores and other businesses on the street.”
The goal is not only to identify problem individuals, but to develop new response plans for other non-violent incidents that do not require police involvement.
“Who is more prolific, who is more violent, and who is simply bad-tempered, as opposed to situational incidents, mental health, addiction, homelessness, etc., which must be addressed in all situations. Evaluate actually, in a different way, more compassionately,” he said.
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Graham said he expects to share data from the pilot project in mid-January.
Winnipeg police denied a request for an interview conducted by Global News to discuss the project and the current status of shoplifting in the city.
© 2022 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
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