Liquor Store Theft Winnipeg

11/27/2019

The police are getting as fed up as we are. They are doing their best but it's not the government a d the justice system to change.

Thieves often commit multiple liquor store thefts. As Stefanie Lasuik found out... both police and the court system are having a hard time keeping up with their crime sprees.

11/23/2019

Found on a profile of someone selling stolen parkas on Facebook marketplace.

These are the people stealing from retail and liquor stores. Look at all those weapons. Machetes, bear spray, knives.

Reminder to not confront anyone stealing - you have no idea if they have a weapon.

Faces are blurred because these are children under 17 years old. All info and unblurred photo was already submit to police. This is not being posted to create a witch Hunt, it is for education and awareness.

11/23/2019

"I come from a poor background but I didn't choose to engage in criminal activity. Stop making the false assertion that someone who is poor has an excuse for stealing from other people. They don't."

Mr. Pallister, you grew up on a family farm in rural Manitoba. I think I can make an educated guess and assume you didn't deal with abusive parents or drug addicts in your home. You didn't have to toughen yourself up just to play in your front yard, you didn't deal with racism or pressures to join gangs at a young age. Comparing yourself to the people in Winnipeg living in extreme poverty is unquestionably one of the most idiotic things I've heard.

You are right that being poor isn't an excuse for the violent actions. But that's not the excuse - it's not just being poor, it's the extreme poverty, desparation and drug addiction. It's an awful cycle that is just going to continue to snowball until you really work with community programs, the Winnipeg Police and the justice system to address what's really causing our city to fall apart.

Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister says the financial background of Liquor Mart thieves needs to stop being used as an excuse to justify the actions of robbers who loot booze and hurt others.

11/21/2019

"Atwal said MBLL did not want to have to impose the new security measure which he said would impact the customers experience but the rash of violent thefts gave the Crown corporation no other choice."

No, you didn't want to impose a new security measure because you don't actually care about employees or customers, we have been begging for something like this. You just know that if you let three employees get ATTACKED for no reason you wouldn't be able to handle the s**t storm of negativity from the public. You would also have had most of your other employees walk off the job. You had to do something.

YOU HAD THIS IN YOUR BACK POCKET TO PULL OUT, THIS SHOULD HAVE BEEN IMPLEMENTED MONTHS AND MONTHS AGO.

After an “unprovoked attack” on Manitoba Liquor Mart employees, Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries announced it is launching a new security initiative.

11/20/2019

This needs to stop.

A longtime Winnipeg grocer says theft is so rampant that his staff have had to take matters into their own hands to safeguard products.

11/19/2019

The comments on this video are incredibly ridiculous and are obviously from people who have never been in this situation and care more about bottles leaving than the safety of people who have to work in this toxic environment.

The product is absolutely not the concern. The safety of staff and customers is the main concern. There is no way of knowing if an individual stealing has weapons or knives, in this instance she was throwing bottles, they could have injured a bystander. It's not worth intervening, it only puts yourself and others at risk.

The employees here handled this perfectly.

11/01/2019

Petition for the MLCC to switch to these bottle locks. The thieves will never be able to figure them out.

10/30/2019

"In a 12-month stretch from August 2018 until July 2019, there were 6,943 incidents reported to police. In the same span from August 2017 to July 2018, the number was 3,819.

That's an increase of almost 82 per cent."

Demands for security officers in Winnipeg have skyrocketed as retailers struggle with a surging shoplifting problem.

10/30/2019

"MBLL said it already considered the consumers-distributing model and carding customers, but the Crown corporation believes that would put customers at risk."

They are concerned that by protecting their stock in stores it will just pass the theft on to consumers in the parking lot. It is good points and there is no easy answer to this issue.

One security expert suggested MBLL card customers at the door.

10/29/2019

Please do not attempt to intervene, the safest thing for everyone at this point is to let it happen. At this point staff are starting to put themselves in danger to try to prevent customers from getting hurt.

Things you CAN do to help:
- make notes of what they look like, what they're wearing, what they said, what type of vehicle they got into, license plate, ect
- leave your name and number with staff to put in the report so police can contact you
- also send your report of events to crime stoppers (https://www.winnipegcrimestoppers.org/submit-a-tip.html)
- if possible move to stand with other customers and staff

REMEMBER: this isn't about product it's about safety!!

🚨WARNING🚨 If you witness a Liquor Mart theft, you may want to think twice before intervening. Aside from putting yourself and everyone else in the store in danger, Winnipeg Police warns that in order to make citizen's arrests for property crime, you have to be the owner of the property or have lawful possession of it. Attacking a thief could lead to civil or criminal liability for YOU. Stay safe Winnipeg. The Police are making arrests every day for liquor thefts. As frustrating as it may seem, please leave it to the authorites. All Liquor Marts are also equipped with state of the art surveillance cameras... So there is no need to pull out your phone to record the thieves, doing so could also put yourself in danger.

10/29/2019

"It's not going to be solved by law enforcement and security. This is a city-wide, maybe North America-wide problem that's going to involve groups that work with families, addictions groups, public health, social agencies," she said.

100% agree with this! The theft problem won't be solved until the root cause is addressed.

Though with all this focus on protecting product, I'm left wondering what kind of measures they are implementing to help their staff with the stress and anxiety of working in that type of environment.

Liquor stores in this province are getting robbed hundreds of times a week, only months after Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries unveiled a strategy to reduce the incidence of theft.