So many cops aren’t neighbours

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 05/11/2016 (3238 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The irony made me smile.

On Sunday, in the midst of getting ready to negotiate a new contract with the city, the Winnipeg Police Association is conducting a door-to-door public relations campaign they’re calling Neighbour to Neighbour Outreach.

On Tuesday — two days before the Neighbour to Neighbour news release — I had called police union president Moe Sabourin to inquire about how many of his membership aren’t really neighbours. I wanted to know how many live outside the city. For years, it’s been well-known that when large numbers of city police officers leave work, they head home to neighbourhoods or acreages outside the city that pays them so handsomely.

And to municipalities where they don’t pay Winnipeg property taxes.

They chose instead to live — or cluster if you will — in nearby communities such as Oakbank, Stonewall and Headingley. Oh yes, and in East St. Paul, where former police chief Keith McCaskill lived during his time leading the service, and where, according to a real estate agent who works on both sides of the Perimeter Highway, the property taxes are about 70 per cent of what Winnipeggers pay.

While paying lower property taxes is one reason, it’s not the only reason some of Winnipeg’s finest chose a home in the country. They might just prefer the open space. Or maybe it’s a more convenient location to operate a side business. Building houses and renovating, for example.

Of course, no one can tell anyone where to live.

No one is trying to; although some years ago the police service did try to create incentives to keep officers living in the city they police.

Of course, cops aren’t the only civic workers who would rather make the commute than what some might say is the commitment in principal to contribute to the tax base.

Flocks of firefighters hop in their pickup trucks and head home beyond the city limits after their shifts.

So, I also spoke to Alex Forrest, the president of the United Fire Fighters of Winnipeg. He didn’t have a number for me; only a 10-year-old estimate: 25 per cent of firefighters don’t live in Winnipeg proper. He guesses it’s about half of that now because of the growing number of rookies.

On Tuesday, the same day a Free Press editorial Police must compromise on pensions appeared, I called Sabourin. Like Forrest, Sabourin didn’t have a number available, either. Nor did the Winnipeg Police Service. When I suggested it could be as high as 20 per cent, Sabourin said that “was probably quite high.”

 

But later, after, Sabourin extracted some numbers from the association’s database that includes cadets and civilian staff, he came up with a slightly higher number. Almost 22 per cent of police association members have home addresses outside the city.

By his calculation, that means 420 of his members live beyond the Perimeter Highway.

“It’s not something we’re too terribly concerned with,” Sabourin told me before doing the arithmetic.

Sabourin said he doesn’t think it makes a difference: “Getting the job done — that’s what matters,” he said.

Sure, but living in the place one polices can help get that job done. It can make a difference specifically because you are a neighbour, and that can make your neighbourhood matter in a personal way because of the off-duty relationships it creates and trust it builds with the community. That’s what the association’s own Neighbour-to-Neighbour Outreach effort suggests.

Even Sabourin’s own words from that news release underscore the importance of cops living in the place they patrol: “Winnipeg police officers are parents — they’re your friends and neighbours — and we care about the same things as everyone else. Our priority is keeping families safe. Winnipeggers have always been incredibly supportive of our officers and the Neighbour to Neighbour campaign is a chance for us to get out of the cars and on to the doorsteps to say ‘thank you’ and to hear directly from our neighbours about their priorities.”

There will be more than 100 off-duty police officers, cadets and volunteers fanning out across the city to make that largely symbolic effort.

Yet, having announced all that good neighbour news, Sabourin had something else to say when I asked if he would rather all of his membership lived in the city where they work.

And get paid.

“At one time,” he acknowledged, “I lived outside the city. And I think it’s beneficial for the members if they are able to distance themselves to a certain degree from the environment that… you work in.”

“Because,” he said, “there are a lot of bad people in the city. There’s been numerous situations where you may be at the gym, or you may be out shopping… and you run into a bad guy that you put in jail… That can be a very difficult situation at times. That may be why you find some police officers want to live outside of the city,” he said.

I pointed out to him — while I’ve heard that rationale before — 1,500 of his membership don’t seem concerned about running into bad guys.

I didn’t mention something he, no doubt, already knows. That our incoming police chief isn’t afraid to live in the city he polices.

Danny Smyth lives in the North End.

gordon.sinclair@freepress.mb.ca