Gas theft trend not a problem in Westman yet
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 18/03/2022 (1457 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
As the price of fuel at the pumps inches higher and higher, Winnipeg has seen a trend in gas thefts from vehicle tanks, a crime Westman police services say has so far been limited to the provincial capital.
While the price of gas is approximately the same in Westman as in Winnipeg, police services in the region aren’t seeing the crime. Rivers Police Service Chief Lon Schwartz said he hasn’t seen it happen yet in the town or surrounding rural area, but believes it is likely to happen at some point.
“If you don’t have it and you need it, people tend to, in dire times, take it,” he said.
The police service patrols the rural area around the town, which Schwartz said could be a deterrent to would-be gas thieves.
Brandon Police Service public information officer Sgt. Kirby Sararas also said the police service hasn’t seen gas theft locally.
In the Rural Municipality of Cornwallis, Chief Const. Darwin Drader said he also hasn’t had any reports of gas theft in the area he patrols.
“I would imagine as soon as the price gets up there, they’ll hit,” he said, adding it’s something he will be on the lookout for.
Thieves have used power tools to drill into vehicle gas tanks and siphon out the gas. Several instances have been reported since a jump in price early in March, including most recently last week, according to The Free Press.
Most gas stations in Brandon posted prices of $1.739 per litre on Friday afternoon. That’s a big jump from February, which had an average gas price of $1.49 per litre, according to CAA.
Drilling into gas tanks is extremely dangerous as sparks can ignite the flammable liquid.
Provide-wide, RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Julie Courchaine said the police service sees more thefts by people driving off from a gas station without paying, rather than drilling into tanks.
So far in 2022, the RCMP has seen approximately 100 instances of people stealing gas by driving off without paying, the same number as in 2021, she said. She noted it is possible instances of people drilling into gas tanks continues to increase if prices stay high.
» dmay@brandonsun.com
» Twitter: @DrewMay_