People in small Manitoba community on edge about rash of break-ins

A councillor in a small Manitoba community says people in his town are worried about their safetyafter a series of break-ins at local homes and businesses.

Jim Winfield said the crimes started about two weeks ago when a bakery was broken into in Grandview, Man., about 45 kilometres west of Dauphin.

Since then, he said three more businesses and four homes have been targeted in the town of around 900 people.

"We always do have our share of crime like any community, but it's never been anything like this.At least, not in recent memory, anyway," Winfield said.

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While not much was taken from the businesses and homes he said the thieves damaged property, and residents are concerned about their personal safety. The houses were broken into while residents were still home and asleep, he said.

Community wants more police presence

Winfield saidresidents want to see more of a police presence in the community, which he says is served by Dauphin RCMP.

"I honestly believe if we had a cruiser car go up and down Main Street at 3 o'clock in the morning there would be less likely to have some action taking place," he said."But like I said earlier, we only see an RCMP car once every month or two."

CBC News has reached out to the RCMP for a comment.

If that doesn't happen, Winfield said he's worried the crimes will continue and residents could try to solve the problem themselves.

"We're a little, defenseless community without any police presence, so we're just fair game," he said.

"My biggest concern is an innocent person is going to get hurt trying to defend themselves. That's what I'm afraid of. I'm afraid someone's going to take the law into their own hand, and the innocent guy is going to get hurt."