Winnipeg police officers will no longer be stationed in big retail stores or malls. The special duty program for retailers allows those stores to pay the overtime to have officers do security in their outlets. A memo from Chief Gene Bowers says the program will be phased out between January and April next year. Bowers said the decision was not taken lightly, but noted recently the service has been unable to staff critical positions and fill key vacancies. CTV News was also provided a statement from Bowers. “Following a comprehensive review, we determined that retail special duty assignments were impacting our ability to fill critical operational shifts,” said Bowers. Coun. Evan Duncan said feedback from the public has been clear. “I think that we’ve heard loud and clear from Winnipeggers that they want to see police in their communities, they want police to come when they’re called,” said Duncan. The Winnipeg Police Board was briefed on the decision Thursday. Chair Colleen Mayer said the board is not against the change in policy. “Our priority, and we’ll continue to monitor as the chief makes information available, though, has to be our frontline service providers,” said Mayer. In a statement to CTV News, Mayor Scott Gillingham is backing the chief’s decision. “Every regular shift needs to be fully staffed with police officers. The people of Winnipeg deserve nothing less,” said Gillingham. “If special duty work in retail stores is creating challenges in maintaining full staffing for frontline police service, then changes need to be made. Front line policing must be prioritized to ensure police resources are available where they are needed most.” The news comes the same week a security guard was stabbed at a Dollarama. John Graham from the Retail Council of Canada said that incident is a reminder. “Theft and risks like that we saw this week are real,” said Graham. Graham said retailers who used the program are losing a key security tool. “We are concerned (this) will result in needing to call in police more often than they would have to in these high-volume, high-theft target stores.” The retail council is asking for an enhanced level of security guard training to fill the gap. Premier Wab Kinew was asked about this and pointed to safety officers who already patrol hospitals and transit. “We’ll continue to work and I just appreciate everybody who goes out there to make our community safer, let’s keep working together,” said Kinew.
