Putting police where they are needed

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 16/10/2023 (1061 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Winnipeg Police Service has shifted a portion of its community patrol resources to crime hot spots in the downtown area.

It’s not a new strategy. Police brass have for years redeployed resources — whether foot patrols or specialized units — to areas where it believes they will have the greatest crime-fighting impact. The ability to respond to criminal activity in real time, based on data and police intelligence, is an important function of any law enforcement agency.

Because police resources are limited, though, the redeployment of foot patrols means there will be less police presence in some communities — at least temporarily. While no one likes that, including community leaders who have lobbied for more police and municipal services in their neighbourhoods, it is sometimes unavoidable.

Crime statistics clearly show violent and other offences in the core area of Winnipeg are growing faster than in any other part of the city. Overall crime grew 37 per cent in the central district of Winnipeg in 2022 compared with the previous year, according to the Winnipeg Police Service’s latest annual report.

That’s by far the highest increase of any district in the city, including the North End, where the crime rate grew by 13 per cent last year. Crime in the downtown area, which falls within the central district, jumped a staggering 48 per cent in 2022.

There is a demonstrable need for more foot patrols in that part of the city.

That does not mean community patrols have disappeared from other neighbourhoods. Far from it. Only a portion of community patrol resources have been shifted to the downtown, not all of them. According to police, the service’s community support unit will spend about 50 per cent of its time downtown. The other half will be spent in other parts of the city.

That should have no impact on emergency calls or other aspects of policing. There is no reason to believe police are “abandoning” any part of the city, including the North End, as Coun. Ross Eadie (Mynarski) alleged this week.

Police Chief Danny Smyth said the service is hiring and training 24 additional officers for the core area over the next year. The redeployment of community support services appears to be temporary.

The question now is: should the WPS add more officers to its ranks to provide a greater police presence in all high-crime neighbourhoods?

That’s debatable.

The per capita number of sworn officers in Winnipeg has declined in recent years after the outgoing Progressive Conservative government froze funding for police between 2017 and 2022. Unfortunately, the Tories did not redirect those resources to other front-line services, such as addictions and mental health programming. Instead, much of the savings from freezing or cutting budgets was used to finance tax cuts.

Should the city and the province bring the per capita policing complement back to 2016 levels? Or should additional resources be used to address the root causes of crime?

Community leaders in at-risk neighbourhoods say a shortage of recreational and other services in their communities contributes to crime. Perhaps more of those resources should be redirected to those neighbourhoods instead of hiring more police officers. These are discussions the city and the newly elected provincial government should be having.

In the meantime, it’s important for police officials to decide, based on data and crime analysis, how best to deploy the resources they have.