Four boys face charges after the Forks security assaulted
Winnipeg Canada March 13, 2024
Four teen boys are facing charges for allegedly assaulting security guards at The Forks after being escorted off the downtown Winnipeg property Saturday.
Security had recognized several individuals who had been previously barred from The Forks Market and told them to leave shortly before 5:30 p.m., police said Tuesday.
The suspects, upset with the request, threatened to assault the guards as they were escorted off the property, Winnipeg Police Service spokesman Const. Claude Chancy said.
One of the suspects discharged what police believe was bear repellent and began assaulting security staff as the group approached the nearby Esplanade Riel pedestrian bridge, police said.
The suspects then fled in multiple directions when officers arrived at the downtown tourist attraction.
Four teenage males were arrested after a brief foot chase, police said. Officers seized a knife and brass knuckles.
Zach Peters, spokesman for The Forks, said none of the security guards were hurt.
“Our staff are all doing OK — they all remained on shift that evening,” said Peters. “If you were the general public in the market that night or even (elsewhere) on site, you might not have even known of this incident.
“I think it was pretty isolated in terms of being between the group of… individuals and our security personnel that were working with those individuals.”
Peters said the incident escalated as the guards escorted them outside, where the teens encountered some acquaintances, outnumbering security as the group became “aggressive.”
“Our security first approached these people because they recognized them in the market as individuals that had been previously barred. They asked them to leave and, at that point, in the market, there wasn’t a lot of push back,” he said.
“Our security team is trained to respond to every incident with what we like to call person-centred approach, and also a trauma-centred approach.”
Individuals can be barred from The Forks for a variety of reasons — including property damage, theft and violence — and for varying lengths of time, Peters said. “Any violence or assault on staff specifically result in a five-year barring from The Forks’ property.”
Four boys — ages 14, 14, 16 and 17, respectively — face numerous charges, including assault, assault with a weapon, possession of a weapon, carrying a concealed weapon, uttering threats and court breaches.
All four were released through court appearance notices or undertakings.
Despite headlines over the recent years, Peters emphasized such violence is rare at The Forks.
“The Forks is not immune to violent incidents… they, obviously, can occur here like they do anywhere else. We do take very seriously the safety of any visitor that comes onto our site.”
In January, a man pleaded guilty to aggravated assault in the 2022 Canada Day stabbing of a Ukrainian refugee. A second man had pleaded guilty to aggravated assault in 2023.
In June 2022, two men were stabbed and a woman was assaulted outside The Forks Market. Days earlier, a father and daughter were attacked in the parking lot in a mugging.
Commissionaires of Manitoba chief executive officer Chris Puhach said the private security industry has taken note of a recent uptick in violence against security officers.
“I think it’s part-and-parcel to the increase in crime that we’ve seen in Winnipeg and Manitoba over the last year,” Puhach said Tuesday.
“For the industry, it’s certainly something that has to be recognized, and there has to be a response from the employers. We all have a duty to protect our people, so we have to train them the best we can to empower them to make the right decisions in these moments of confrontation, as well as make sure that they’ve got the right equipment to protect themselves.”
Puhach said, generally, security officers are not expected or trained to engage, but to act as reliable witnesses in reporting incidents to authorities.
The threat of violence, coupled with relatively low wages compared to work in law enforcement or corrections, can be a deterrent to recruiting and retaining experienced and capable employees, Puhach added.
