Police crackdown made news, but did it make a difference?

There are many questions — and few answers — about Winnipeg’s recent 10-day police crackdown on open drug use and trafficking.

The Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce gave the crackdown a thumbs-up in a statement last week, saying the inner-city enforcement initiative that began June 24 was necessary because businesses and employees are increasingly concerned about safety.

That’s a legitimate problem. People should be able to work, shop, walk and live in their neighbourhoods without being exposed to open drug use, trafficking and violence. Public spaces cannot be surrendered to criminal activity.

But the chamber’s support also comes with an important caveat: enforcement cannot be the whole strategy.

It’s not clear yet whether the police blitz, which wrapped up earlier this month, was a success because the Winnipeg Police Service has not released the data needed to make that determination.

More than 100 people were estimated to have been detained during the first two days of the operation on Main Street between Logan and Higgins avenues. The crackdown was extended to other parts of downtown, West Broadway and the West End.

However, it’s still unclear if it had a lasting effect that was positive, negative or both.

Did the operation reduce drug use and trafficking, or merely move it elsewhere? Did people who had been using drugs in highly visible areas relocate to more discreet places where they are less likely to be seen — and less likely to receive help if they overdose?

Were there more overdoses during or after the crackdown? Did emergency calls increase in other neighbourhoods? Were people connected with treatment, housing or other supports or were they arrested, detained and moved along?

Winnipeggers deserve answers to those questions.

There are some reports that open drug use and trafficking in the West End returned after the crackdown was over. If that’s the case, the blitz may have accomplished little.

The police service says its data is still being analyzed. Fair enough, but the public should not have to wait indefinitely for an assessment of an operation that was announced with considerable fanfare and affected hundreds of people and multiple neighbourhoods.

Mayor Scott Gillingham has said he wants to see the data and supports its release. That is the right position. The police service should provide the public with a clear accounting of what the operation accomplished, if anything.

Chamber president Loren Remillard is also right to say the initiative cannot be a “momentary respite.” A visible, sustained and strategic public-safety effort is needed. But strategy requires evidence. It requires knowing what worked, what didn’t and what unintended consequences may have resulted.

That is particularly important because the city’s addiction crisis is not going to be solved by police enforcement alone.

The outreach community was critical of the crackdown, in part because front-line organizations were not consulted before it began. Police Chief Gene Bowers later acknowledged that the service should have worked more closely with those agencies.

That should be the beginning of a much more comprehensive review.

The results of the sweep should be examined not only by police officials but also by the people who work every day to help those struggling with addiction, homelessness and mental illness.

Front-line agencies understand where people go when they are displaced. They know what happens when someone loses access to harm-reduction supplies or disappears from a familiar location. They may be able to answer questions that police data alone cannot.

It’s also not lost on many observers that this crackdown was launched during a civic election year, when politicians, especially the mayor, are looking to score points with voters. The election is Oct. 28.

Was this police action simply a way for the city to be seen as doing something a few months before Winnipeggers vote or is there a broader strategy to implement a more long-term plan that tackles both public safety and addictions treatment?

Will the province, which has jurisdiction over treatment, be involved in any future planning with city police? Or was this just a one-time blitz?

There are few answers to any of these questions.

The real test of the police crackdown is not whether open drug use temporarily disappeared from a few blocks of Main Street and other neighbourhoods, it is whether the operation made Winnipeg safer, without pushing vulnerable people into more dangerous and hidden circumstances.

Until the police service releases its data and a thorough, independent review is conducted — which should include the outreach community — nobody can say with confidence that it did.

tom.brodbeck@freepress.mb.ca