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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Editorial unfairly attacks Winnipeg's thin blue line
A Free Press editorial (Bottom, not blue line thin, Jan. 28) dismissing our concerns about the current operational review of the Winnipeg Police Service is inconsistent with the goal of protecting taxpayers' wallets without diminishing efforts to protect citizens.
The Winnipeg Police Association along with a Canadian expert the city recently hired have stated that, with the imminent establishment of a new police oversight board and the hiring of a new chief, hiring an outside consultant is redundant and a waste of taxpayer's money.
Further concerns arise when the outcome of this examination by the U.S. firm Matrix Consulting is so transparently predetermined. Everyone should share the association's concerns rather than be suspicious of them.
Why, for example, have civic politicians openly declared that tens of millions of dollars will be saved? Such clairvoyance ought to be questioned.
On the other hand, if such knowledge exists before the review commences, should not the details be revealed along with the apparent conclusions?
Police officers have been open to participate in any sincere examination of police operations in order to do our jobs more efficiently. The association, in fact, recently publicized four concrete suggestions that would undoubtedly result in significant savings. (Available at winnipegpoliceassociation.ca.)
We have made clear and concrete suggestions toward improving public safety and have taken tangible steps to illustrate our commitment to serving the citizens we are sworn to protect. Our cadet program, the envy of many other police services, permits officers to concentrate on other urgent and serious matters.
The standard claim that policing costs 26 per cent of the civic budget is dubious at best. More than 160 police positions (10 per cent) are externally funded. Those funds are put directly back into city coffers.
Other cost-recovery mechanisms such as the civil-forfeiture unit also reduce the real bottom line.
The editorial focused on homicides when discussing efficiencies. We wish a slightly deeper examination of the facts had been conducted.
When it comes to safety on our streets, the public's sense of insecurity goes beyond mere perception. In recent years, data clearly illustrate that Winnipeg is by far the leader in virtually every violent-crime category.
In 2010, in a nationwide comparison of major cities, Winnipeg police solved homicides at a greater rate and at about half the cost of most others examined.
For their efficiency, our homicide investigators are repeatedly rewarded with a substantially greater frequency of audits than any other unit within the police service.
In 2011, Winnipeg had the most homicides per capita of any Canadian city since such record-keeping began.
How does any sensible person propose police managers mitigate the alarming rate at which some stick a knife in another's rib cage or blow a hole in another's chest with fewer resources?
Police are merely one aspect of an entire justice system. We must constantly adapt to meet pressures and expectations imposed upon us by others with greater political influence inside the system.
It is somewhat demoralizing to be the subject of less-than-subtle insinuations that somehow police officers are to blame for civic fiscal woes, on top of other systemic shortcomings.
It has often been said policing is a thankless profession. The recent Free Press editorial certainly lends credence to that adage.
Mike Sutherland is president of
the Winnipeg Police Association.
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 6, 2013 A7
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