Major retailers spend millions hiring Winnipeg police officers on OT to stop shoplifters

One of Canada’s largest retailers is spending more than $200,000 a month hiring Winnipeg police officers to protect its business, an increase police and experts say points to the growing crisis of retail theft in the city.

Data obtained by CBC through freedom of information laws show that over the past five years, Real Canadian Superstore, owned by Loblaw, has spent over $12 million on special duty police officers. 

These are officers working overtime to do tasks outside their regular job, with their wages paid by clients. The Winnipeg Police Service charges $128 an hour plus tax for the services of a police constable.

Small business owner Sarah Esperanza estimates she loses hundreds of dollars each week to theft from her West End shop, which specializes in Latin American food and goods, but she can’t afford to hire police officers.

“What can we do?” said Esperanza, who has owned El Izalco Market for 24 years after moving from El Salvador to Canada.

“There is no end, but nobody [is] taking consideration. We as small businesses are the ones that are keeping up the economy, and who is helping us?” 

Customer pulled a knife

Customers walk into her store and brazenly steal things like a drink or cookies — items so small it doesn’t make sense to file an insurance claim.

One time a customer pulled a knife on her.

“It’s a challenge,” she said.

“Sometimes you have to take it. You had to go through it.”

CBC obtained the monthly list of clients that hire special duty police officers and how many hours the officers work for them each month. 

Using the posted hourly rate for a Winnipeg constable, CBC tallied how much hiring officers cost each client from January 2019 to mid-August this year.

The three biggest clients were Superstore, Walmart and the province of Manitoba.

The numbers paint a picture of the two major retailers’ growing reliance on police officers, something the Retail Council of Canada said isn’t sustainable.

While the officers are helping major retailers, the vast majority of small businesses can’t afford to hire them, said John Graham, Prairie region director with the Retail Council of Canada.

“It’s a Band-Aid solution that can help address a real problem of safety and security,” he said. 

“In reality, this is just a last resort for those that feel the need.”

Walmart 2nd biggest client in 2024

Walmart started using special duty officers at its Winnipeg stores in 2022, costing the U.S.-based mega-retailer $1.4 million. It is spending, on average, roughly $52,000 each month for the officers.

Winnipeg Police Service Supt. Dave Dalal says retailers are not just using officers as a theft deterrent, but for the safety of their customers and employees.

“The special duty program has seen increases year over year as we’ve operated it, and every year seems to be a record number of people trying to hire police,” he said. 

“Just like voluntary overtime, we have to take a look at whether we’re causing officer burnout.”

The police service monitors burnout through a program that ensures special officer duties are being spread evenly throughout the force, he said.

Dalal said it is not the special duty program that causes burnout, but the overtime officers do performing their regular policing duties. 

Since January 2019, Winnipeg police officers have worked more than 222,000 hours of overtime — costing the private sector over $20 million. Over 43 per cent of those hours were at Superstore locations. 

The data shows Superstore didn’t start using the officers until June 2019 — and that was only for 116 hours.

The number climbed to over 1,660 hours by January 2020 — costing the company over $200,000 across its various Winnipeg locations.

While the numbers vary slightly each month, Superstore is consistently the biggest client of special duty officers’ services.

Winnipeg police say the growing use by big-box retailers is indicative of what’s happening across the province right now.

“We’ve seen an escalation in violence,” Insp. Jennifer McKinnon said. “I think it’s a direct relation to how safe these employees are feeling and the commitment from the retailers to provide a safe workplace.”

Reported incidents of retail theft in 2024 have increased 46 per cent compared to last year, and 2023 had the highest volume of reported theft occurrences in the past 10 years, according to numbers provided by Winnipeg police. 

McKinnon said often organized groups go into stores and take large amounts of high-value items, similar to what happened at Liquor Marts in 2019.

“They’re not hiding this,” she said. “They’re going in brazenly. They’re not worried about being caught. They’re targeting specific items.”

Graham, from the Retail Council, says people are walking into stores with “shopping lists.” 

“Those are the ones we’re concerned about,” Graham said. “Those are the tens of thousands of dollars that can leave an electronics store or a grocery store or a home improvement store every week.”

The rising cost of goods and poverty also plays a role, he said. 

“When there’s less money in people’s pockets, some do turn towards criminal activities,” he said.

He argues the province needs to focus on prosecuting repeat offenders who are carrying out organized theft.

A spokesperson for Loblaw said the use of these officers at select Winnipeg stores has been effective. 

Across the country, the retailer has seen a significant increase in theft and violent encounters at its stores, the spokesperson said, calling it a “massive, industry-wide issue.”

The use of officers “is simply one of many measures we take to keep our customers, employees, and stores safe,” the spokesperson said in an email statement.

Questions about how much Loblaw has lost from shoplifting and whether the cost of these officers is passed on to the consumer were not answered.

A spokesperson for Walmart Canada declined to disclose any details about using these officers, but said they emploh a variety of measures to prevent retail crime.

Province spends thousands

Other clients who use special duty officers include companies such as True North, which hires them to provide security at hockey games, and public entities such as the City of Winnipeg and government of Manitoba.

Each month, the province spends more than $30,000 on special duty officers, with the majority of that money going to having an officer stand at the entrance to the Manitoba Legislative Building.  

Justice Minister Matt Wiebe said the officer works with the regular security team at the legislature for added safety for the ministers, MLAs and guests visiting the building. 

From January 2021 to July 2021, the province spent over $2.6 million on these officers to do security, the data shows. A spokesperson for the government said they were used at COVID-19 testing sites and to enhance enforcement of provincial health orders during the pandemic.

Meanwhile, the future of the province’s recent anti-theft initiative program remains in flux.

Under the $1.9-million program, officers work overtime to patrol retail hot spots in the West End, Osborne Village and downtown. 

Esperanza said the program has made a difference in her West End neighbourhood. The officers come by every day and keep things safer on Sargent Avenue, she said.

Announced in May as a one-month initiative, it was extended twice after the government saw promising results.

The program is slated to end in October. 

Wiebe said they are still negotiating with Winnipeg police over the future of the initiative and its sustainability.

“It’s a negotiation and it’s an understanding of where their needs are. But what we’ve heard is nothing but positive reaction and response to the initiative,” he said.