WINNIPEG -- Police in Winnipeg are investigating a string of brazen alcohol thefts in the city and are urging the public not to intervene if they come across such incidents.
Winnipeg is the latest city to experience swarms of young people entering liquor stores, grabbing as many bottles as they can and simply walking out the front door. Staff has been told to avoid confrontation as a way of preventing harm, but some frustrated citizens have been taking matters into their own hands.
- For more on this story,
In recent days, several videos of these incidents have been making the rounds on social media, with one such video showing two young people filling their bags with booze before two bystanders takes one of them to the ground for a citizen鈥檚 arrest.
Police on Monday urged the public to avoid confronting these individuals for their own safety, as some of these thefts have involved machetes and even guns.
鈥淚s your life worth a bottle of alcohol?鈥� Const. Jay Murray of the Winnipeg Police Service told 麻豆影视. 鈥淭hat's what it comes down to.鈥�
Chris Gamby of the Criminal Defence Lawyers Association of Manitobasaid the vigilante justice is not worth it, in part because police have a lot of tools at their disposal to catch suspects.
鈥淟et the police do their jobs,鈥� he said. 鈥淟et them conduct the investigation. The liquor commission has a very sophisticated setup in them. I鈥檝e seen these videos, they鈥檙e high-definition quality. They can and will identify people.鈥�
Police say they have developed new strategies to catch suspected thieves, but will not disclose them, which has led to some of the social media frustration among residents.
Still, police say the strategy has been effective as there have been 18 arrests in Winnipeg last week alone.
Neil McArthur, director of the Centre for Applied Ethics at the University of Manitoba, said the fact that these crimes are being conducted in broad daylight when the liquor stores are open is part of the reason behind some of the furor online.
鈥淪uddenly we鈥檙e seeing cellphone videos of this and it feels very real to people,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 think that鈥檚, in many ways, good to make it transparent, what鈥檚 happening in our society, but it can also lead to panic and I think people can overreact.鈥�
Police in Manitoba have been reaching out to officers in other jurisdictions for advice, including in southern Ontario, where following a six-month investigation into 170 thefts from theprovincial liquor control board, or LCBO, locations in Vaughan, Ont. The total combined value of thefts was nearly $60,000.
However, the LCBO is still dealing with such thefts. Back in June, police in Toronto issued an arrest warrant for a man believed to have stolen $50,000 worth of liquor from the LCBO and just recently, thieves filled several suitcases and duffel bags with bottles and then walked out the front door.
Back in Manitoba, all options are being explored to curb these crimes, but it鈥檚 proving a difficult task.
鈥淚f there was a silver bullet, we would have implemented it by now,鈥� said Andrea Kowal, spokesperson for Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries. 鈥淭here is no one thing that is going to fix this.鈥�
