Decent pay, big expectations: search for safety officers begins By: Malak Abas Posted: 5:45 PM CST Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023 Last Modified: 8:32 AM CST Friday, Dec. 1, 2023 Updates

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Officers hired for the City of Winnipeg’s much-touted community safety team will be expected to conduct a raft of potentially dangerous tasks such as intervening in violent incidents, dealing with panhandling and property destruction, and being exposed to biohazards and needles.

Job postings were placed online this week for team members, who will originally focus on Winnipeg Transit safety, and two supervisors.

The posting says officers’ tasks include administering first-aid and trauma care and dealing with people who are “unsheltered or displaced, depressed, suicidal, suffering mental health issues and drug overdoses and psychosis.”

Team lead Bob Chrismas acknowledges it’s a tall order, but said successful applicants will receive a month of training centred on community support, not punitive policing.

“There are some elements of training that are required in order to make them sworn peace officers, but … I want to focus more on non-violent crisis intervention, intervening in mental health crises, addictions, homelessness, the partner agencies they’ll be working with, all that kind of stuff,” he said Thursday.

Applicants must have post-secondary education in social work, crisis intervention, sociology or an equivalent combination of training, education and experience and be able to “handle and resolve confrontational situations, including use of force as necessary.”

Officers won’t be given guns or Tasers, but will have handcuffs and protective gear, including slash-proof gloves. They will also be able to arrest and detain people.

“The pay scales are pretty good, which is what I wanted to try and attract good people. I have a feeling we’re going to have lots of applicants.”–Bob Chrismas

Chrismas, a veteran police officer who has a doctorate in peace and conflict studies, said the hiring process will take place over the next few weeks. Training will be conducted in January and officers will be stationed on Transit buses by February. While the goal is to have officers visible in the wider community, all people hired through the current job posting will be posted on buses.

“The pay scales are pretty good, which is what I wanted to try and attract good people. I have a feeling we’re going to have lots of applicants,” he said.

The job posting lists 20 permanent, full-time positions with a bi-weekly salary from $2,996.03 to $3,823.78. Two supervisors tasked with training safety officers and doing street outreach themselves, will receive an annual salary of $85,566.26 to $115,191.21.

The safety program has been delayed several months. It was promised by Scott Gillingham when he ran for mayor in the fall of 2022. In September, when Chrismas was brought on to head the team, Gillingham said he had hoped to have the officers on buses by the end of this year.

Chris Scott, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1505, has said his members wanted the safety officers on buses before the snow fell this fall.

In 2022, there was a record 130 attacks on Winnipeg Transit staff.

Scott said Thursday the union is “cautiously optimistic” about the progress on the security force to date.

Gillingham pointed to the program being built from scratch, and said he believed it was still moving quickly despite the stretched timeline.

“I still think we’re on an aggressive timeline. I’m really pleased to see that we are now at the place where we have put out a posting to hire individuals to be trained to serve in this capacity,” he said.

Data will be collected about the number of interactions, which routes are problematic, what community supports people are referred to and how often police have to be summoned, Gillingham said.

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca