Swan River installs cameras, buys patrol car as retail, property crime runs rampant

When one of his workers was talking to a woman at his computer store in Swan River a few weeks ago, Bill Gade had no idea that just seconds earlier, she had taken a $250 wireless headset and tucked it under her sweater.

"They walked in and the staff member didn't get there as quickly as the person did, and within 10 seconds of them walking in, they'd already stolen an item," said Gade, who owns 83 North Computers in the small western Manitoba town.

The woman spoke to the worker for a few minutes, then walked out the front door.

It wasn't until Gade checked his security cameras and sent a photo of her to other business owners in town that he realized his staff member hadn't been talking to a potential customer — he had been talking to an experienced thief.

Gade, like other business owners in town, is fed up with the retail and property crime — often committed by repeat criminals — that has been plaguing the community of about 4,000.

The town has been ramping up security measures in the last few months in hopes of curbing its rising crime rate, said Gade, who's also the reeve of Swan Valley West and the president of Swan Valley Chamber of Commerce.

Using a $40,000 town grant and some money from business owners, the town bought security cameras that can monitor what people are doing and where they're going. It also bought a security patrol vehicle, which hit the road in September, using $10,000 from the town.

"We're seeing stores here getting hit time after time, sometimes every hour, of someone going in and taking $100 or $200 of merchandise," Gade said.

"You get numb to it after a while.… It's just always bad."

And it's not just bad in Swan River.

Just about every municipality in the province is struggling with retail theft and other property crime, said Kam Blight, president of the Association of Manitoba Municipalities.

In addition to posing safety concerns for residents, it also deters people from investing in the communities. Some owners struggling to keep their doors open.

"These criminals are becoming a little bit more brazen. They're happening at all hours of the day, and it's a massive concern," Blight said.

With help from the local RCMP detachment, the town is setting up the cameras in areas where crimes tend to happen, and near the town's outskirts, where people come and go from community.