‘They are abandoning the North End’: activist, city councillor upset over community policing shift to city centre

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This article was published 11/10/2023 (744 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg police have quietly removed some community patrols from high-crime neighbourhoods and reassigned them downtown as violence escalates in the city’s core.

The move will bolster police presence in the city’s economic heart, but is drawing criticism from advocates and officials elsewhere.

“We recognize and acknowledge that a healthy and vibrant downtown is important to our city both culturally and, frankly, economically,” Winnipeg Police Service Chief Danny Smyth said, announcing the decision at a Sept. 15 meeting with the Winnipeg Police Board.

“There is a lot of concern about safety and a lot of concern about the perception of safety and public disorder.”

For the immediate future, officers within the police service’s community support unit will spend a portion of their shifts (roughly 50 per cent, a WPS spokesperson said Wednesday) engaging in daily foot patrols downtown.

The specialized officers typically work in various districts throughout the city, including in the North End and Point Douglas, where they act as community liaisons.

The reassignment could last for more than a year, while WPS works to hire and train 24 new officers in the core, Smyth said.

Point Douglas activist Sel Burrows described the unit as some of the “most effective” officers at police disposal, saying he fears their reducing operations will undo years of community bridge-building in other areas.

“They are totally wrong,” Burrows said of the decision. “I’ve been working in crime prevention in the inner city for 15 years, and the community support unit has been one of our major tools.”

The officers employ a proactive approach to policing, addressing community concerns about non-urgent criminal activity and engaging directly with residents.

Burrows noted the unit has been reassigned from his neighbourhood several times, including at least twice in the last six months and previously in 2017.

“For the inner city, it’s really easy to cut services,” he said, referring to all forms of supports, including recreational activities. “One of the reasons we have problems in the city is the unequal distribution of services.”

Coun. Ross Eadie echoed Burrows’ concerns, saying the move will exacerbate the already-significant crime and safety challenges in the North End.

Both men learned of the development Wednesday.

“We in the North End will once again be able to say that the city has decided that we’re not important enough. That’s what’s happening,” Eadie (Mynarski) told the Free Press. “Everybody will say, ‘Well, not true.’ Well, it is true. They are abandoning the North End.”

Coun. Markus Chambers, the police board chair, defended the move.

“The downtown for us is a critical piece for us in ensuring that residents are safe,” he said. “We can’t continue to not have the proper responses and supports in the downtown area.”

Winnipeg’s downtown has increasingly become the source of serious violent crimes, rife with stabbings, robbery and several slayings in recent months. WPS has identified five priority “hot spots” in an area that spans from the city centre to Polo Park — where the additional officers will be redeployed.

According to WPS data, the region logged 4,638 violent crimes between June 2022 and June 2023 — nearly doubling such crimes in every other area of the city during the same period.

Smyth said the officers will primarily focus on the SHED — sports, hospitality and entertainment district — which includes the Canada Life Centre, True North Square and numerous restaurants and hotels.

While addressing the police board, Smyth noted reassigning the community officers may draw criticism from residents in other areas in the city, but stressed improving safety downtown has been identified as a critical priority by both the civic and provincial governments.

Chambers pointed to an announcement from the outgoing Progressive Conservative provincial government in June promising $10 million in funding to support the hiring of additional officers and security measures downtown.

Whether the newly elected Manitoba NDP government will follow through on the promise remains to be seen, he said.

The party did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday.

tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca