Winkler Police Chief Rick Hiebert has provided City Council with the department's second quarterly report. While Criminal Code offences were up slightly compared to the same time last year, shoplifting has jumped from twenty-six cases to forty.

Hiebert says it's difficult for police to be proactive when it comes to shoplifting.

"We can assist retailers with advice on how to set up stores or what kind of action to take to try and protect themselves, but most of our shoplifting files come as a result of a store calling us either having somebody in custody already or giving us details about a theft."

Hiebert adds loss prevention officers are a great way to curtail shoplifting and says several stores have also invested in good quality video surveillance equipment which better assists police with their investigation.
    
He notes police do encounter a number of shoplifters coming from outside the region.

"There are groups or individuals that have been banned from box stores in Brandon, Portage and so forth and so they travel to other box stores where they perhaps see weaknesses in the system or an ease of opportunity."

Also highlighted in the latest report, a jump in vehicle theft cases to four from a single incident last year at this time. Hiebert isn't too worried however, adding compared to other jurisdictions, four offences in three months is considered low.

He says the victims in each of these cases could've prevented the crime by simply locking their vehicles.

"I believe none of these were locked and most often the keys are in the vehicle, if not in the ignition. We don't have people walking around and breaking windows to get in, so it's easy for someone to protect themselves from being a victim."


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