The director of a local restaurant association says the industry is running out of patience for a solution to the ongoing crime problem facing Winnipeg eateries.
Three employees at a Main Street restaurant were injured during an assault Saturday afternoon, police said, leading to the arrest of a 24-year-old woman, who is now in custody facing charges of assault and assault with a weapon.
Two days earlier, pair of suspects were arrested in connection with a fight at a Henderson Highway restaurant, this one involving a firearm.
Manitoba Restaurant and Foodservices Association executive Shaun Jeffrey told 680 CJOB’s Connecting Winnipeg that violent incidents reported by Winnipeg police this weekend are just the latest that are plaguing the industry.
“Any time you turn a restaurant worker, or restaurant operator, or restaurant manager, or restaurant patron into a security guard … it can turn tragic pretty quickly,” Jeffrey said.
“It’s not a newsflash that we have a crime problem here in Winnipeg. When we hear of situations like this in our industry, it’s very demoralizing and it’s quite irritating.
“If you implement certain measures inside your business, it can assist in these things not happening.”
Unfortunately, Jeffrey said, restaurateurs are waiting on the provincial government to help fund additional security measures.
A business crime grant was announced in the last provincial budget, he said, and while the association was directly involved in the planning for the initiative, the province has yet to announce the details and release the funds.
“They have announced the residential version of it … but the business crime grant, which has been devised and paid for in the budget, has not been announced yet,” he said.
“Unfortunately, we haven’t gotten any real feedback on what the holdup is. We haven’t been instructed on when the business one will come out.
“We just really need it. We’re not seeing a decrease in crime by any means in our industry…. It’s not going away.”
Global Winnipeg has reached out to the province for comment.