Business owners want to see temporary retail theft initiative be made permanent

Small business owners want to see a temporary program that helps combat retail theft be made permanent.

The $1.9 million initiative was started by the provincial government by funding police overtime to beef up their presence in Osborne, the downtown and the West End.

Cobra Collectibles Shop on Sargent Avenue offers a wide variety of video games, toys, comics, and candy.

Along with the items for sale, they have other accessories that aren't – security cameras, monitors, and mirrors – all to help with retail theft.

"They just come in, they grab stuff, they run out. (They're) too quick for us to stop," said co-owner Kailyn Gregorash.

Gregorash said things had become so bad that they even locked up the drink fridge.

"I don't even know how many thousands (of dollars) a month it's costing."

However, she said the situation has been getting better, all because police officers are making the rounds, looking in on her store and others more frequently.

"They check in how the last couple of days have been, if we've noticed anything outside or in the store. Sometimes they'll ask us for some video feeds."

While the retail theft initiative is a temporary measure, Gregorash hopes it continues.

"It shows that they respect us and want to protect us and want to see us thrive. So yeah, we'd love to see this be a permanent fixture."

Premier Wab Kinew is leaving the door open to making it a permanent program.

"If we hear from the police service, the city, and our partners that we should keep going with this retail theft initiative, then we'll be listening to that," said Kinew during an interview with CTV News Winnipeg.

Kinew noted, however, that the government must consider concerns around burnout and morale with all the overtime hours officers are working.

Coun. Markus Chambers – who is the chair of the police board – has the same concern. He would like to see the program become permanent but feels overtime is not a sustainable way.

He believes the answer may be more officers.

"We have to look at different revenue models and what that looks like in terms of supporting more officer compliments," said Chambers.

Kinew said a new graduating class of officers is coming on board and that the new hires could help combat retail theft while the current initiative acts as a bridge until then.

Talk around retail safety comes on the eve of a summit in Winnipeg to address retail safety and security.

It is set for Friday at the RBC Convention Centre and is being hosted by the Retail Council of Canada.

There are 400 attendees registered, including police from across the province, prosecutors, small and large businesses and private security firms. Mayor Scott Gillingham and Kinew are set to speak at the event.