Unit will make police more proactive: Bates

Four new provincially funded Brandon police officers dedicated to retail theft and ensuring people are following their bail conditions will allow the police to act more proactively, the city’s chief of police says.

“If somebody is in complete disregard of court-ordered conditions and in non-compliance, it’s better to catch them proactively … as opposed to reactively when they’ve committed another violent offence,” Brandon Police Service Chief Tyler Bates told the Sun following a police board meeting on Friday.

In May, Premier Wab Kinew announced the province will fund four new positions for a BPS public safety unit, which Bates said will focus on retail theft and bail compliance.

Up to this point, bail monitoring happens “off the corner of people’s desk” as officers are dealing with tens of thousands of calls for service each year, Bates said during the meeting, which took place at Brandon City Hall.

“Trying to find your way to do a bail compliance check, whether it’s curfew or some other court-ordered conditions … with the volume and reactive calls that you’re dealing with, it’s just near impossible to get to the number of bail compliance checks that you’d like to do,” Bates said.

This unit will “provide that proactive ability,” since it will be their substantive job, he said.

“I think that this will certainly make a difference with respect to public safety,” Bates said.

The funded positions, which have not yet been filled, stem from a formal request in the form of a “business case” that BPS submitted to the province, identifying the need for retail theft prevention and bail compliance.

The police chief noted that the province funded 12 positions for the Winnipeg Police Service in 2024 and an additional 12 in 2025 dedicated to these two priorities.

“Our business case … kind of piggybacked that dedication of resources to one of the big cities because we have the same issues here in Brandon that, up until now, have been unresourced, he said.

“I think the message was heard loud and clear from our provincial funding partners in terms of the needs that we had here.”

Following the premier’s funding announcement, Justice Minister Matt Wiebe told the Sun that the cost of four police officer positions is typically $600,000 per year.

In terms of retail theft prevention, Bates told the Sun when a retail theft happens, a member of the new unit can respond and file a report, rather than the retailer or a loss prevention officer having to go to BPS headquarters and make it.

Also discussed at the meeting was the Manitoba Summer Fair in Brandon.

Bates described this year’s fair as successful and said there was a lot of planning on the “intelligence” side that allowed police to prepare well for an event that could have disruptions.

“Certainly, there were individuals that came to the fair with the intention to cause problems, and through the intelligence-led efforts and the very visible contingent of both cadets and sworn officers, as well as members of some of our covert units, we were able to intercept those threats,” he said.

Throughout the four-day event, BPS detained four people under the Protective Detention and Care of Intoxicated Persons Act, detained five people for breach of peace and removed 11 people for unwanted behaviour, Bates said in an email to the Sun.

One person, from whom police seized a small amount of methamphetamine, was detained, and another was charged after police found they were concealing a CO2 handgun.

Additionally, Bates said police received one report regarding bear spray, but police weren’t able to find out whether the suspect had been in possession of it or sprayed it.

Police found and seized another CO2 handgun from behind a trailer, he said.

Bates said two First Nation safety officers helped with security on the Friday of the fair, which he said was “very helpful.”

» sanderson@brandonsun.com