New police gun lab expected to cut violent-crime investigation times

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This article was published 20/07/2023 (1170 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The provincial government is paying $5.2 million for Winnipeg police to build a new gun laboratory meant to serve all law enforcement agencies in Manitoba.

The new facility, which will expand from the city police service’s firearms investigation and analysis section that was established about five years ago, is meant to more quickly examine and process guns and evidence linked to firearms crimes — an in-depth process, officials said.

Currently, Winnipeg police firearms examiners are able to process guns within a few days, but the new lab is expected to be able to turn around a firearm in a few hours.

Meantime, other police agencies in the province, including Brandon’s and the RCMP, send seized firearms off to the national Mountie laboratory in Ottawa for analysis — a process that can take up to a year, Winnipeg Police Service organized crime Insp. Elton Hall told reporters at a news conference Thursday.

The money will be used to build a new gun range meant to test seized guns, purchase some new equipment and hire and pay more staff, including two or three highly specialized firearm examiners. The work includes ballistics testing and imaging, as well as forensic analysis meant to trace and link guns to crimes. The facility at the downtown WPS headquarters will also be used to archive seized guns.

The lab, officials said, will improve co-ordination on firearms investigations between different law enforcement agencies in the province.

Hall, who oversees the current firearm analysis section, said he hopes to have the lab fully operational within a year, with a total of 20 staff, a boost from the nine currently working in the WPS firearms analysis section.

The lab is expected to be able to process 2,500 guns a year, he said, adding the most important benefit will be cutting down on the time it takes to develop new investigative leads during homicide probes.

“It’s really significant, especially when you’re talking about a homicide investigation or multiple shootings,” he said, adding the collected forensic evidence will assist Crown prosecutors in court.

“For example, a homicide, the most serious crime there is, that might take three or four days (currently) to get us information; now we might have it in a matter of three to four hours.”

RCMP Insp. Paul Peddle, officer in charge of the Central Plains area, said that gun crimes are increasing in the force’s jurisdiction areas.

“The use of firearms during a crime is incredibly dangerous to everybody involved and has long-lasting and dramatic impacts on the victim and the entire community,” said Peddle.

Justice Minister Kelvin Goertzen told the news conference the province will also deliver $3.1 million for the lab’s annual operations.

He said the new lab’s capabilities will ultimately help reduce gun violence and firearm crimes in the province.

Thursday’s event was one of several police and public safety funding announcements the Progressive Conservative government has made in recent weeks ahead of the October provincial election.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca

witter: @erik_pindera