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Katz pledges more cops

Wasylycia-Leis says mayor lacks focus

By: Mary Agnes Welch

Posted: 09/8/2010 6:31 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

WAYNE.GLOWACKI@FREEPRESS.MB.CA Enlarge Image

Mayor Sam Katz vows to add 58 more police to city streets, a promise similar to ones he's made before.

SAM Katz says crime is the city’s biggest worry and he’s promising 58 new police officers to combat gangs and walk the beat.

Twenty new officers will be assigned to an antigang unit modeled on the successful auto-theft strategy. Another 20 will do foot patrols in highcrime neighbourhoods and 18 more will man a new cruiser car to boost response times.

More 911 staff another promise

In addition to new police officers, Sam Katz pledged to hire 19 more 911 dispatchers to bring the call centre up to snuff and solve a problem few Winnipeggers even knew they had. Earlier this summer, the National Emergency Number Association completed a review of Winnipeg’s 911 system and found it fell short of national standards.

Emergency calls should be answered within ten seconds 90 per cent of the time. Winnipeg was meeting that goal only about 88 per cent of the time, said Winnipeg Police Chief Keith McCaskill.

Last month, McCaskill briefed Katz on the report and said, according to NENA’s formula, another 19 calltakers and dispatchers were needed to bring Winnipeg up to standard.

That’s three people per shift, just what Katz promised Tuesday.

McCaskill said, as far as he knows, no one has been in serious danger while waiting for 911 staff to answer. But he said it’s a real risk that needs to be dealt with.

“We have to do a better job answering these calls,” he said.

"Winnipeggers have made their priorities known and public safety is priority one," said Katz. "This election is about reducing crime, offering young people alternatives and taking back our communities."

The pledge snagged Katz an endorsement from the Winnipeg Police Association, which hasn’t backed a mayoral candidate since the mid-1990s and sent its executive to Central Park Tuesday morning for Katz’s announcement.

Already, during Katz’s six years in the mayor’s office, the city has hired 200 more cops — a 17 per cent increase. But Winnipeg’s overall crime rate has remained relatively stable, according to local criminologists. In July, a Statistics Canada report pegged the city’s violent crime rate the third highest in the country, a rate that increased 15 per cent between 2008 and 2009.

Katz’s main challenger, former NDP MP Judy Wasylycia-Leis, agreed more police officers are needed. "But adding more police is not the whole answer," she said. "Without a plan and a focus on the causes of the crime, adding all the police in the world will never stop this cycle of violence."

She said Katz has lacked a comprehensive crime-reduction plan and has instead resorted to Band-Aid solutions. She said she plans to unveil her comprehensive plan later in the campaign.

The new officers will cost $4 million — a substantial amount when the city is counting on winning a $10-million lawsuit against Manitoba Hydro to balance its books this year.

Katz said there are "many avenues" within the city budget to find $4 million without cutting other services, but he would not specify. He said some federal funding could be available.

Meanwhile, the province is working through a pledge to give Winnipeg 50 more officers. Winnipeg Police Chief Keith McCaskill said 33 have arrived and another 17 are due, presumably before the provincial election in the fall of 2011.

McCaskill said Katz’s vow of 58 new officers is very welcome, and said he’s talked to the mayor in the past about a dedicated gang unit able to keep tabs on known gang members. But, McCaskill acknowledged that he has never asked Katz for another 20 beat cops or another cruiser car.

maryagnes.welch@freepress.mb.ca

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