Police officers will help on buses, hurt elsewhere in crime-plagued city

Opinion

It’s hard to argue with the Winnipeg Police Service’s decision to put uniformed officers on city buses and around bus shelters.

With violent crime on public transit having exploded in recent years, police really didn’t have much of a choice. The question now is whether the WPS can afford it.

In 2024, police received 325 reports of violent crime on or around Winnipeg Transit buses. That’s nearly triple the number from just five years earlier, in 2019.

For those who use transit regularly, it comes as no surprise. Stories of riders being assaulted, threatened with weapons, or harassed have become commonplace. For years, complaints about buses and shelters being unsafe have gone unanswered.

The city tried to address the problem earlier this year by deploying community safety officers on buses. It was a step in the right direction and may have had some effect.

But it’s clearly not enough. Safety officers don’t carry firearms, don’t have full arrest powers, and most importantly, don’t carry the same deterrent value as a uniformed police officer. Criminals know the difference.

When word spreads that cops are riding buses (including plainclothes officers) and stationed at shelters, it will give many would-be criminals pause.

The problem, though, is police resources. Where are these officers going to come from?

Police brass said officers assigned to Transit will be redeployed from other areas of the service. That’s a polite way of saying they’re robbing Peter to pay Paul.

The Winnipeg Police Service doesn’t have officers to spare. In fact, the WPS complement is at a historic low at a time when violent crime across the city has surged.

There were 164.8 police officers per 100,000 people in 2024. That’s the lowest in at least 20 years. The number has fallen every year since 2013 when it peaked at 210.4 officers per 100,000 people.

Police have added some net new officers to the ranks in each of the past three years (24 last year). But it hasn’t kept pace with population growth.

The problem, though, is police resources. Where are these officers going to come from?

Even this year, police are delaying new hiring to help meet “efficiency” targets.

This is the same police service struggling to keep up with calls for service that continue to climb. And it’s the same police service that has been warning for years that Winnipeg’s growth in population, combined with its disproportionate levels of violent crime, would eventually outpace police resources. That’s exactly what’s happening now.

There’s no question putting police on buses will make them safer. But it will come at the expense of something else. Maybe fewer patrols in high-crime neighbourhoods. Maybe longer response times for crimes in progress. Maybe fewer officers available to monitor organized crime or gang activity. None of those are good trade-offs.

City hall and the provincial government can’t expect to run a major urban centre with a bare-bones police budget and a transit system that’s a magnet for crime. If they want buses to be safe, they have to fund it properly.

If they want neighbourhoods to be patrolled, they have to fund that, too. That might mean tough decisions on spending elsewhere.

And it might mean asking the provincial government for more help — because transit safety is not just a municipal issue, it’s a public safety issue that affects the whole community.

For now, though, the WPS has little choice but to redeploy officers. Doing nothing is not an option. The numbers from 2024 make that clear.

Violent crime on transit has become an epidemic, and it threatens not just passengers but the viability of the entire system.

If people don’t feel safe on buses, they won’t ride. And if they stop riding, ridership declines even further than it already has, forcing service cuts, fare increases, and a downward spiral that will take years to reverse. Some have no alternative but to travel by bus.

It might mean asking the provincial government for more help, because transit safety is not just a municipal issue, it’s a public safety issue that affects the whole community.

Putting police on buses is a band-aid solution, but at least it’s a band-aid that works. It addresses the immediate crisis.

Longer term, though, city and provincial leaders need to face the hard truth: Winnipeg has a violent crime problem that goes far beyond transit.

It’s showing up in downtown and elsewhere. Dealing with that requires a comprehensive approach — more officers, yes, but also more investment in prevention, addictions treatment, and mental health supports.

Police can’t solve every problem. But in the case of Transit, only police have the tools and authority to deter the kind of violence we’re seeing.

The challenge now is finding a way to do it without leaving the rest of the city less safe. That will take political will and hard choices that go far beyond shifting officers from one beat to another.

tom.brodbeck@freepress.mb.ca