“$15 and you can be high for three days," RCMP address meth issue in Steinbach

Steinbach RCMP presented their annual report to Steinbach City Council a week ago.

In the report, they mentioned that both break and enters and theft have increased in Steinbach. 

Staff Sargent Guy Landreville says most of the break and enters and thefts are addiction driven. 

He adds that for the most part, it’s the same people doing the same crimes over for the same reason.

“They're addicted to methamphetamine and other substances, and in order to continue taking meth and continue with that lifestyle, they need money,” he says. “For the most part these people, they're very poor, and have to continue stealing in order to get money and buy meth and feed their addiction.” 

2023 had 152 break and enters while 2022 had 117, making for an increase of 35. 

Theft under $5,000, there was an increase of 28, with 2023 having 387 and 2022 having 359. As for theft over $5,000, the number is the same in both years at 28 thefts.  

Theft of vehicles went down by nine, with 2023 at 67 and 2022 at 76. 

RCMP used to arrest the culprits, put them in jail, and that would take care of the issue, but Landreville says things have changed. 

He says the traditional approach is not working anymore.  

“What we're seeing now is a lot of revolving door in jail policies, where a lot of the culprits are not really dealt with as far as being incarcerated for any amount of time. And it causes us further problems when they're just released as quickly as they're put in.” 

They are trying a new approach to minimizing crime in Steinbach, and that is with getting the offenders help through Headway. 

“In a nutshell, we're trying to help these people with their addictions and get them all the resources and the help that they need for them to come clean and to be members of society that can hopefully get some employment and work and stop doing what they're doing.” 

He says this approach has been more successful. 

"There are success stories. It’s difficult to measure because if the B&Es are up 15 percent and we've helped four people, does that take care of the 15 percent? So it's hard to actually put numbers to it.” 

Landreville emphasizes that methamphetamines are extremely addictive and extremely cheap, so a lot more people can partake.  

“Compared to cocaine in the 70s, which was a rich man's drug, and today with methamphetamine, $10 or $15 and you can be high for three days. And there's lots of it here.” 

He says they are really counting on their partnership with Headway, as the best way to fix this problem is to help people overcome their drug addiction. 

"Right now, we're not going to put all our eggs in the same basket, but if we have a dozen, we'll probably put 10 in that Headway basket right now. Because like I said, traditional ways of doing things is basically not working.”