Collaboration, reconciliation, downtown safety at top of agenda, new police chief tells business crowd

Winnipeg’s new police chief issued a simple message in his first address to business leaders: “We hear you.”

“We hear you loud and clear that you want change,” Gene Bowers said.

Merchants have had to contend with theft, vandalism and violent attacks since the COVID-19 pandemic. Some companies no longer take the time and effort to report incidents to police. Others have waited days for a response.

Bowers was sworn in as the Winnipeg Police Service’s 19th chief last month. He emphasized collaboration and reconciliation during a Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce luncheon Thursday.

“Businesses should not question if the police will respond,” he said. “You should expect we will be there and will be a presence in your communities.”

It’s his goal to increase officers’ community presence, he told the crowd.

He has spent 36 years in the force; he called his time as a West End foot patrol some of his “most rewarding” years.

He recounted the time he went undercover at Ellice Meats, a company that was mysteriously losing garlic sausages. Bowers and butcher staff discovered the meat was being stolen during deliveries. The problem stopped after an arrest was made.

Both policing and running a business have changed over the past decade, Bowers noted.

He highlighted social issues: businesses are on the front lines, hit with more violent crime and people who are visibly in the throes of addiction. Companies have abandoned neighbourhoods, including downtown, as a result.

“The margins are extremely tight, and when you experience damage, theft, robberies, the profit margins become that much more paper thin,” Bowers said during a roughly 20-minute speech.

“Violent crime, theft and damage in around your businesses, and in our communities, cannot be tolerated any longer.”

He appealed to the crowd to report incidents, despite the time it takes and their past experiences: “We still need to know what’s going on so we can address it.”

The police service is adding a crime analyst to identify patterns, and 12 new foot patrol officers downtown. It’s open to collaborating with organizations such as the Downtown Community Safety Partnership to create a “blanket of safety” in the city core, the chief said.

“Violent crime, theft and damage in around your businesses, and in our communities, cannot be tolerated any longer.”–Gene Bowers

He listed collaboration and technology use as ways to reduce strain on the service’s nearly 2,000 staff, including 1,366 sworn officers, per 2023 data).

The Downtown Community Safety Partnership presented to business leaders ahead of the chief’s appearance.

The organization “sits in between those community members that are struggling and the traditional services,” said Sean Kavanagh, a DCSP board member.

“We need to co-ordinate our efforts,” Kavanagh stated. “(The DSCP) free up our paramedics and our police officers to go and do the work that we so desperately need them to do.”

Bowers later highlighted his commitment to reconciliation. From 2010 to 2013, he was assigned to the joint missing and murdered Indigenous women’s task force.

He pledged to respect recommendations from a number of reports, including the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s calls to action.

“It’s amazing how Murray Sinclair got it right. All we have to do is follow (the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry),” Bowers said. “Then I think… Winnipeg will be a safer place for the Indigenous community.”

The WPS is hiring a consultant to bring Indigenous people into the force at all levels, including in executive positions, Bowers stated.

After the event, Bowers left for a private round table discussion involving the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce. It was the first of its kind, said president Loren Remillard.

“(This is) a really good start to what we hope to be a very productive relationship with the Winnipeg Police Service,” Remillard said.

He’s heard plenty of complaints from business owners who don’t bother reporting incidents to officers because they consider it a waste of time.

“There was a sense of resignation… and a little bit of helplessness, like our own police aren’t even there for us,” Remillard stated. “Our members need to see a visible presence of police officers in community.”

He credited recent projects by police, including a violent crime and retail theft initiative launched with the provincial government. Within six months, the initiative led to 969 arrests, 896 engagements with business owners and $120,000 in recovered property.

Remillard said he anticipates changes to a downtown safety strategy, which has been recently updated. Hopefully, greater collaboration from police will result in decreased property crime and shoplifting, Remillard said.

The force received 45,857 reports of property crime for the year ending November 2024; it’s a 2.3 per cent decrease from the previous year.

Shoplifting increased 42.9 per cent during the same period. It follows increases of 36 per cent and 43 per cent in 2022 and 2023, respectively. Public Winnipeg Police Service data show 8,293 counts of shoplifting in the city over 12 months, ending in November.

Bowers will be the first police chief to attend the civic leaders dinner hosted by the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce later this month.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com