Combating retail theft has been a priority for police in Winnipeg for some time, and now their counterpart in Brandon, Man., is cracking down as well.
Brandon police is two months into its retail theft initiative, and Chief Tyler Bates says early results show there is definitely a need for it.
“Over a short two-month period, we had days where we had a dozen arrests,” Bates told 680 CJOB.
“We ended up interdicting 70 retail theft offenders and recovered over $10,000 in property.”
The program is receiving provincial funding until March, although Bates said he hopes to see it continue beyond that.
One trend Brandon police have noticed is that offenders seem to be targeting high-price items that can easily be sold for cash.
“We’re not talking about theft for survival here; we’re not talking about somebody stealing a loaf of bread or food from an establishment,” he said.
“What we’re seeing in terms of the thefts that we’re intercepting is that it’s often items of value that are marketable within the public domain.”
Bates said police are working closely with local businesses and giving them a direct line to investigators.
“We’re certainly getting lots of feedback from our retail sector that they’re seeing increases in this pattern of activity, in shoplifting incidents.”