Winnipeg’s violent crime rate drops for second year in a row

The volume and severity of violent crime reported in Winnipeg dropped for the second consecutive year in 2025 — part of a trend that includes fewer homicides, robberies, assaults and incidents of youth crime.

“I’m pleased that we’re trending in the right direction, (but) by no means is this a victory lap,” Winnipeg Police Service Chief Gene Bowers said Wednesday as he announced the findings of the latest police annual report.

While the number of all reported criminal incidents (71,168) increased slightly from 2024 (70,149), following two years of declines, the total severity of those offences dropped by nearly nine per cent.

The reduction in severity — which accounts for the number of crimes reported and how serious they were — was aided by a 4.8 per cent reduction in violent crimes year-over-year, said David Bowman, WPS director of organizational development and support.

Decreases were recorded in homicides (48.8 per cent), robberies (6.6 per cent), assaults (4.1 per cent), firearms offences (24.6 per cent), and knife-related crimes (15.7 per cent).

Winnipeg Police 2025 statistical report

 

Bowers attributed the reductions, in part, to increased collaboration with the city and provincial governments, community groups and other police agencies.

The service’s enhanced bail enforcement and the Manitoba integrated violent offender apprehension unit — which includes RCMP and WPS officers who target violent and prolific offenders — also played a role.

The unit has made more than 1,000 arrests since its formation in May 2023, Bowers said.

University of Winnipeg criminal justice Prof. Michael Weinrath agreed that targeted initiatives launched by police can pay off.

“It’s really a small number of people who commit a high proportion of all crimes,” he said. “If you can identify the chronic people and take them off the street, you’re going to have a significant impact on crime.”

The report found instances of cybercrime have nearly doubled since 2019, reaching 1,659 cases in 2025. Women represented 80 per cent of victims targeted in online sexual offences, while men were victimized in 81 per cent of online extortion incidents.

Overall, youth aged 15 were the most frequently reported victims of online extortion, threats and sexual offences, police said.

“That one shocked all of us,” Bowers said, adding a lot of the incidents took place on online video games. “It is an issue and it is an area where our youth are being targeted.”

The police chief said there’s discussion about creating a cybercrime unit that will collaborate with other Manitoba agencies.

The annual report shows youth crime dropped for the first time in four years, by 11.7 per cent. Violent crimes involving youth dropped by 16 per cent, representing the largest decrease in recent history, Bowman said.

“If you can identify the chronic people and take them off the street, you’re going to have a significant impact on crime.”

Daniel Hidalgo, director of the CommUNITY 204 outreach group, said he was surprised to learn about the improvements.

The data could be influenced by a lack of reporting of some crimes, or by increases in the amount and effectiveness of youth supports, he cautioned.

“I really hope that whatever is happening to impact this decrease is valid and it’s based on resources and actual community relation-based support, whether it comes from emergency response or grassroots organizations,” he said.

In 2025, police received nearly 760,000 calls for service, which was a decrease of two per cent from 2024, when the WPS communications centre fielded 772,000 calls.

The demand for police response placed significant strain on officers, while population growth and “the broader social pressures continue to impact our communities across the city,” the chief said.

“A lot of this, I would call it misery in our community, is caused by drugs,” Bowers said. “A lot of the crime is related to drugs, people who are trying to finance their addiction.”

“A lot of this, I would call it misery in our community, is caused by drugs.”

The number of emergency calls for police dispatch dropped by 10 per cent, and was 12 per cent lower than the three-year average. That allowed police to respond to more than 15,000 additional non-urgent calls in 2025, compared with the previous year.

For the sixth consecutive year, the most common type of call generated by citizens was a well-being check, at 20,657 requests, the report shows.

Mayor Scott Gillingham said he continues to push for a fourth emergency service, which would answer wellness and mental health calls. He expects the public service to deliver its report exploring the potential of the service to become available in the coming weeks.

“If somebody needs a mental health worker, they don’t need a badge and a gun response,” he said. “If we could shave off a portion of those (calls)… that frees up the police officers to deal with more criminal matters.”

The annual report shows police are making “real progress” in the areas of violent crime, but “there’s a lot of work left to do, particularly in the downtown,” the mayor said.

In terms of downtown, incidents of violent crime dropped slightly in 2025, but overall crime in the area spiked by 17 per cent over 2024; the trend was driven by 27 per cent increases in both property and drug crime, the report shows.

Winnipeg police, with support from the province and city, have enhanced police presence in the area in recent years. Gillingham said the response has been positive, but changing the perception that downtown is dangerous requires additional resources for social issues, including people with addictions.

Justice Minister Matt Wiebe said the data shows Winnipeg is “gaining momentum” in the fight against crime, thanks to police efforts and government investments.

“I think this is a good news story,” he said. “The high-level numbers show real progress.”

Across the city, shoplifting declined by 4.6 per cent after a prolonged police effort to crack down on retail crime. That followed three consecutive years of increases.

The downward trend has continued into the first quarter of 2026; preliminary data shows such crimes are lower than pre-pandemic levels, the chief said.

Property crime remained below pre-pandemic levels, recording a decrease of 5.8 per cent compared with 2019, despite a slight year-over-year increase of 0.9 per cent.

“You always worry that people just give up and say, ‘I’m not calling (police) because they’re not coming.’”

Weinrath said the work of social agencies and organizations that help the homeless or people with mental illness or addictions likely had an effect on the data.

He said some of the statistics in the annual report should be treated with caution because crimes can be under-reported.

“It’s what we call police-reported crime. It doesn’t really represent all the crime that occurs in Winnipeg,” he said. “You always worry that people just give up and say, ‘I’m not calling (police) because they’re not coming.’”

Bowers and Gillingham both urged the public to report all incidents of crime.

A bit more than 30 per cent of all reported crimes were “cleared” in 2025, which means they resulting in a charge, diversion, or a victim not pursuing a matter, for example.

The clearance rate was about the same in 2024.

The WPS complement included 1,425 police officers in 2025, up by 35 officers from 2024.

Wiebe said provincial funding has contributed to a net gain of 59 Winnipeg police officers since the NDP took office in late 2023, compared with a loss of 55 officers while the previous Tory government was in power.

— With files from Chris Kitching

tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca