Winnipeg police called nearly 11,000 times in 8 days during holiday spike

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This article was published 02/01/2019 (2773 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

While most Winnipeggers were settling down with family or headed out for nights on the town this festive season, police were gearing up for an annual spike in violent incidents and calls for service.

During the eight-day period between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Day, the Winnipeg Police Service call centre was bombarded with nearly 11,000 calls for service on its emergency and non-emergency lines.

“I’ve never really been able to, in my mind over 25 years, put a framework as to why it spikes during this period. It’s not just the alcohol. It’s not just the drugs,” WPS spokesman Const. Rob Carver said Wednesday.

“There’s just something about this period in the year that we experience very, very heavy call volumes. The reasons are diverse. They’re unconnected often. But it does speak to what happens in the city during an eight-day period.”

Just six hours into 2019, the city had registered its first homicide of the year.

WPS officers responded to a residence on the 400 block of Nairn Avenue at 6 a.m. on Jan. 1, finding an adult male suffering from a gunshot wound. He later died, and police are tight-lipped on further details.

“It’s six o’clock in the morning on a frigid day. Someone’s been shot and killed. A family is traumatized. We have somebody dead, and we have officers fighting through everything else that’s going on to make sure we are keeping that scene secured and we investigate properly,” Carver said.

”It’s just another tragedy in the city.”

It was one of two homicides to hit Winnipeg during the holiday season. The other was a slaying in a back lane on the 400 block of Victor Street on Christmas morning. The victim has been identified as Tyler Evan Smoke, 26. Police have yet to announce an arrest.

In the lead-up to New Year’s Eve, the WPS prepared for an increase in calls for service by bulking up on-duty officers, although Carver declined comment on specific preparations made.

“We were bolstered for a busy evening, and our plans were successful in the sense we were able to respond to all the calls we needed to in a timely fashion and were able to keep everything under control. Notwithstanding that there were obviously some violent incidents,” he said.

A small group of WPS officers were put to the test on New Year’s Eve, when a string of incidents at an unnamed downtown hotel and bar caused a small melee and led police to issue an emergency closure order of the premises.

Police involvement began when an intoxicated man allegedly threw a table out of a seventh-storey window, causing $10,000 worth of damage to the suite and raining shattered glass down to the pavement. The suspect reportedly assaulted the arresting officer when he was taken into custody.

As the night continued, a series of escalating and violent calls came into the dispatch centre from the location.

“We had a crowd, according to the officers’ reports, that was overly intoxicated and unruly. No one was co-operating with the officers’ comments. At some point, the officers realize they’re being outnumbered by a fairly aggressive crowd and they’re being surrounded,” Carver said.

The officers were subject to some minor assaults and had to call in back-up, leading to more than 20 police and cadets getting involved at the scene.

After the situation at the hotel and bar was wrapped up, WPS officers had in custody Michael Caribou, who had been on the run from a second-degree murder arrest warrant since September.

Another incident that caught attention, Carver said, was a home invasion at a residence in the Shaughnessy Park neighbourhood at 10 a.m. on New Year’s Eve.

A man approached the residence — which was occupied by a 12-year-old boy and his 10-year-old sister — and allegedly attempted to disable a security camera at the back of the property. He then approached the front and repeatedly rang the door bell.

“The 12-year-old looked out the window and observed the accused standing at the door. He remained calm and clear-headed. He ran upstairs, woke his sister and called 9-1-1. They locked themselves in the bedroom,” Carver said.

“The accused forced his way into the residence… and began kicking and pounding at the locked bedroom door. While on the phone with 911, the children hid in the room and provided updates.”

Within two minutes of the call coming into the dispatch centre, officers were on scene, and took a male suspect into custody.

ryan.thorpe@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @rk_thorpe