Grocery thefts symptom of food insecurity, agencies say

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This article was published 17/05/2023 (1250 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

An increase in grocery thefts in Brandon is a sign of desperation in the community, according to local social agencies who say they are experiencing record-breaking numbers of people using their food services.

In the past two weeks, five people have been arrested for shoplifting grocery items, primarily meat and cheese, from the Real Canadian Superstore alone.

Brandon Police Service public information officer Sgt. Kirby Sararas told the Sun that BPS has seen an increase in shoplifting around town this year. While there have been thefts of high-ticket items, a significant portion has been groceries in the $100 to $200 value range.

“Certainly, the grocery items, we are noticing a trend for that,” she said.

Sararas said although many of the thefts have been from Superstore, the store’s dedicated loss prevention officer and surveillance monitoring process helps the supermarket catch more thieves.

“A lot of the other stores don’t have loss prevention staff just working on that issue, so they might not be catching it as readily as they are at the Superstore,” she said.

Superstore didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

In court Monday, a 21-year-old man facing charges for allegedly stealing two bags of groceries worth $140 from Superstore was denied bail. He is also accused of stealing clothing and personal care items from Walmart.

On Tuesday, a 23-year-old woman was arrested for allegedly stealing $200 worth of meat from Superstore and was charged with theft under $5,000.

Ross Robinson, executive director of Brandon’s John Howard Society, said the increase in grocery thefts indicates to him there’s a sense of desperation.

“There’s reasons why people steal,” Robinson said. “They’re not good reasons, but reasons that are explainable.”

The John Howard Society operates the Food Rescue Grocery store, which diverts edible food from the landfill and sells it at an affordable price. While Robinson said the store — which is open to everyone regardless of financial status — hasn’t seen an increase in customers, protein items are the first to fly off the shelf. Some people wait hours in line outside the store to get their hands on those products.

He said although there’s plenty of food to go around, it’s not getting to people’s plates in an inexpensive way.

On the other hand, the food bank run by Samaritan House is in fact seeing more users — the organization has seen around 100 new families every month since November.

The food bank offers both monthly and weekly food hampers, or people can come in and “shop” for the items they want instead of receiving a pre-packed bag.

While the food bank, which is the second largest in the province, sees people from a vast demographic, executive director Barbara McNish said the most common clients are working families and people with part-time jobs who are living paycheque to paycheque.

Both McNish and food bank co-ordinator Marcia Hamm-Wiebe said there are many circumstances that bring people to the food bank, including the rising cost of living, forcing people to choose between paying their rent or mortgage and buying groceries.

“People can talk about budgeting, and people can talk about unhealthy choices as much as they want; there just simply isn’t enough money for them to pay for their basic survival needs,” said Hamm-Wiebe.

“So, choices are going to get made out of a situation where there are no good choices at that point.”

But it’s not just Brandon residents who are feeling the pinch, it’s also the food bank itself, which has had to purchase items out of pocket more often as donations from grocery stores dwindle. According to the Samaritan House workers, grocery stores are donating fewer fruits and vegetables due to supply chain issues or their bottom line.

Meanwhile, Helping Hands Centre, a soup kitchen in downtown Brandon, is seeing an unprecedented number of clients. Co-ordinator Amanda Bray said that last year, the centre averaged 156 meals per day. On Tuesday, they served 180 meals — a 12 per cent increase from April 2022. And last year, the centre served around 5,000 more meals for a total of 39,560, beating its previous record of 34,000 meals.

Bray said the centre has seen an increase in young families and newcomers to Canada. She estimated that only about 30 per cent of the people who use the soup kitchen are homeless, the other patrons have lower incomes or are seniors on fixed incomes with money that won’t stretch to cover high food costs.

“There’s moms, there’s all kinds of people coming in asking for a litre of milk,” Bray said. “It’s absolutely heartbreaking.”

Bray agreed the growing trend of grocery thefts shows food insecurity issues exist in Brandon.

“It’s literally stealing that loaf of bread to feed your family,” Bray said, adding that stealing groceries is not just another petty crime.

“If it was [for] my kid, I’d do what I had to do, too.”

» gmortfield@brandonsun.com

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