Booze thefts a toxic brew: employee

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This article was published 16/09/2018 (2293 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Three teenage males, one of whom had a handgun, walked into a Winnipeg liquor store last week. As one male grabbed two bottles of booze and ran toward the exit, his 14-year-old accomplice pointed the pistol at employees.

After police tracked down the suspects — ages 14, 15 and 17 — in a back alley minutes away from the store, it was discovered the firearm used in the crime was a fake. The three were charged with armed robbery and other offences.

“The video footage of this and other incidents taking place at Liquor Marts can only be described as shocking and disturbing,” said Andrea Kowal, Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries director of communications, in a news release.

The incident is the latest in a string of thefts at Winnipeg Liquor Marts. Police say they’ve received nearly 1,300 reports of liquor thefts this year, which is an average of about five per day.

An MLL employee, who spoke with the Free Press on the condition of anonymity, said the public has no idea of the magnitude of the situation. The employee said MLL doesn’t report all Liquor Mart thefts to police, which means that figure is low.

“A lot of times when a theft happens, they’ll come in and grab a bottle and leave. We almost never call the police when that happens. If we do call police, it’s because it’s considered to be a robbery. They’ll act like they’ll swing a bottle or sometimes they’ll have a weapon,” the employee said.

The police service said the thefts are draining its investigative resources, which are already taxed. Last week, Const. Jay Murray told reporters that MLL needs to do a better job at prevention rather than relying on “reactive policing.”

Statistics provided by MLL show roughly $800,000 worth of liquor has been stolen from Manitoba stores in the past 12 months. (Last week, the Free Press reported that figure as $1.6 million. That was based on inaccurate statistics provided by MLL. The Crown corporation later issued a correction.)

Kowal said she’s disappointed with media coverage on MLL’s security policies. In particular, she highlighted Free Press coverage of the fact MLL has instructed its security guards not to intervene when thefts take place.

“Publishing security procedures is risky. Intervening in some of these incidents will lead to people being seriously, seriously injured. Physical intervention is a bad idea,” Kowal said.

She pointed to recent incidents in which staff, customers, or, in one case, an off-duty RCMP officer, attempted to intervene and were viciously attacked.

“Staff and customers have been hurt. Staff intervene and get a bottle in the head or the jaw,” Kowal said.

The MLL said its policy of “non-violent crisis intervention,” which allows security guards to dissuade thieves from leaving the store with stolen goods but not physically stopping them, is an industry best-practice that’s common in retail.

But the MLL employee who spoke to the Free Press said many staff members are frustrated at having to watch thieves routinely walk into stores, clear out dozens of bottles of high-priced merchandise, and walk out.

“Most of the time this isn’t people coming in and stealing a bottle to feed an addiction. It’s a group of people, a lot of them teenagers, coming in and grabbing 24 bottles of Grey Goose off the shelves and walking out,” the employee said.

“It goes against every grain in your body to just stand there. We just let them get away with it, and it’s gotten to the point where people know they can get away with it.”

Staff who have intervened — by grabbing bottles from thieves or trying to block them from leaving the store, for example — have been disciplined.

“If you do something, you’re at risk to lose your job,” one employee said.

When asked if staff members have been fired for intervening in thefts, Kowal said she wasn’t sure, but stressed that would be a last resort.

“We would rather coach and discipline employees than have someone get seriously harmed. It isn’t worth anyone getting hurt over a bottle of spirits,” Kowal said.

Bill Cairns, who has trained more than 1,900 security guards during the past decade, said the issue facing MLL isn’t unique. He said it’s increasingly common for thieves to be dismissive of security guards as authority figures.

“Security guards are citizens. They’re not a special sheriff. They’re not over and above ordinary people,” Cairns said.

He points out that under the Criminal Code and Manitoba Justice’s security guard training manual, there are only a few instances when a security guard can lawfully, physically intervene.

“One, is to help a police officer; two, is to defend yourself or someone else from serious injury; three, is to stop someone from committing a crime that could cause serious injury or damage to property,” Cairns said.

He believes some of the opposition to MLL’s policy of not physically detaining thieves stems from a misconception about a security guard’s responsibility.

“A lot of the misconceptions come from watching American TV. Security guards in the U.S. carry weapons, pistols, batons. They have badges and look like cops, so people think that’s what we should be doing in Canada — but it’s not,” Cairns said.

“The situation is getting worse. I think people are starting to figure out that security guards are not special and they can just run.”

Police said they were unable to provide statistics about how hard other retail outlets are being hit compared with liquor stores, since shoplifting isn’t an offence under the Criminal Code and data isn’t tracked.

When asked what policy changes are being mulled by MLL to better protect staff and clamp down on theft, Kowal declined to answer, saying the Crown corporation won’t discuss the matter with the media.

The employee who spoke to the Free Press said there has to be a change.

“It’s tough. I feel like not enough is being done to prevent it. Even our corporate office said our security guards are just there as a decoration.”

ryan.thorpe@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @rk_thorpe