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. 

Since November, 20 cameras have been installed. The goal is to have at least one camera at 84 different locations.

Besides monitoring what happens in the town, the cameras will help free up the Mounties' time, Gade said.

When a mini excavator was packed into a truck and stolen last month, Mounties didn't know which route the thief took out of town, he said.

"You end up checking every camera for miles around, seeing if it happened to go by there," Gade said.

'We have to do something'

Officers ask business owners for surveillance video footage after a retail theft.

"They'll say ... can you check and see if you see anything? And they'll repeat that at 50 or 60 businesses," Gade said.

Gade is setting up a security hub next to his store, where volunteers can go watch the cameras live and report any suspicious activity to the town's citizens on patrol group.

"We're not going out there to stop the people. We're not going to question the people. We're simply flying the flag of somebody's watching what's going on," he said.

He hopes to have the security hub finished early next year. 

"We have to do something, and if we can deter some crime or we can save the RCMP some time … every piece helps," Gade said.

The patrol vehicle already seems to be making a difference, he said.

The SUV, complete with dashcams, a two-way radio and a reflective decal on the side, is "meant to be seen," Gade said.

"When you're driving that, when you're driving that vehicle, you see the difference," he said.

"You go down the street a couple times, you don't see 10 people wandering anymore."

Either citizens on patrol volunteers or business owners can volunteer to drive it. It goes out twice a week, day or night, for about four hours at the time.

Gade would like to see it out 24/7.

He's also working to program the two-way radio so when someone breaks into a business and the alarm goes off, people in the car and anyone else tuning in will be notified.

More laws for repeat crime

Between 2018 and 2022, the town has seen a rise in its crime severity index, which measures how much crime is reported and how serious each crime is, according to Statistics Canada data released this summer. 

At 506, Swan River's index was more than three times higher than Manitoba's in 2022, which was 146.

Derek Boychuk, who owns both Backstage Gym on Main Street and Star City Cinema in the town, said he would like to see more consequences for people who repeatedly commit crimes.

"There's no repercussions for them and the business owners are tired of it," said Boychuk, who's also a member of the chamber of commerce.

"If a person is caught five times doing petty theft … why does that person get to run free?"

The federal government has made changes to the Criminal Code that aim to make repeat violent criminals less likely to be released on bail by putting a reverse onus on those accused of the crime. That means accused will have to show why they should be released on bail, instead of the prosecution having to show why they should be held.

But those changes, which come into effect on Jan. 4, target people charged with serious offences involving violence and the use of a weapon — crimes Boychuk said aren't as common in Swan River and other small communities.

Blight says that means the changes aren't necessarily going to help.

"There has to be consequences for these individuals' actions," he said.

"It's just being put back onto society and the business owners … and that is just not right."

Gade will keep trying to turn the town's frustration into action.

"Anger can be turned into something useful: Turn it into driving the patrol vehicle. Turn it into watching the cameras. Turn it into putting up some cameras," he said.

"We just need it to stop. We can't afford this. Everybody's losing too much."