Thefts from construction sites, show homes causing headaches for Manitoba builders

The head of the Manitoba Home Builders’ Association says something needs to be done to tackle crime at construction sites in Winnipeg and across the province.
President and CEO Lanny McInnes told 680 CJOB’s Connecting Winnipeg that the organization’s members continue to complain about theft at job sites, with thieves making off with whatever they can get their hands on — copper wiring, newly installed carpets, fake TVs and even potted plants.
And the damage to the homes is usually far more costly than the value of the stolen items.
“The amount that the criminal is getting out of this is really tiny, but the cost of it in terms of kicking doors in, or breaking in, or damaging property … for our members, it’s increasingly escalating in terms of the cost that they’re incurring,” he said.
And at the end of the day, McInnes says that cost ends up being handed down to the consumer — and it’s only getting worse.
“We’re not immune to it. We’re seeing it increasingly impact our members, and ultimately their customers … because crime costs, and it does cost our industry.”
McInnes said the topic of theft from job sites and show homes gets brought up at every meeting the association holds, and it’s a point of frustration for many members.
“(Members) bring up an incident or an increased amount of crime that’s hitting their construction sites, or hitting the nearly complete homes,” he said.
At a housing forum presented by the association Thursday morning, Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham and Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew addressed members about a number of topics, including crime.
Kinew cited the success of the ongoing municipal/provincial retail crime prevention initiative, and suggested more projects in that vein are to come, with additional Winnipeg officers coming out of the police academy and more law enforcement resources planned across the rest of the province.
The increased police visibility in some areas, he said, is working as a deterrent and means a faster response to emergency calls — something he hopes to build on going forward.
Gillingham said the next step is to take a deeper look into what kind of calls police are going to, and ways to mitigate those numbers with other resources, so police will be able to respond more rapidly to crime.
“Part of what we continue to need to look at is the kind of calls police are going to,” he said. “Right now, when someone calls 911, 911 has one of three responses they can send — police, fire (or) paramedics.
“Is there an alternate response that we can send, so that we can free up some of those emergency resources? That will free up the officers to be patrolling near show homes or your construction sites.”
The need for more law enforcement support, Gillingham said, is reflected in the city’s rapid population growth — something police have struggled to keep pace with.
“We’ve grown by 65,000 people in the last three years,” he said.
“We have 27 cars every shift with the police service. That’s the same number it was eight to 10 years ago, with 100,000 less people.”