Winnipeg police unit to target guns, gangs
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/03/2019 (2565 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Two members of the same street gang pull out guns and fatally shoot each other at a downtown Winnipeg late-night diner.
The double homicide, which occurred Feb. 6, is just one of numerous times city police have seen firearms being used in criminal acts — as well as officers encountering and seizing firearms during arrests and drug busts — in recent months.
Now, police are arming themselves with a new tool to fight back.
As part of Winnipeg Police Service Chief Danny Smyth’s monthly written report to the Winnipeg Police Board, he will announce at Friday’s WPB meeting the creation of a unit “focused on the identification of gangs and firearm crime.”
“The guns and gangs unit will focus on the identification, arrest and dismantling of gangs, criminal organizations or crime groups responsible for violent criminal activity, primarily focusing on illegal firearms and illicit drugs,” the chief’s report says.
A spokeswoman for the police service said Smyth would only comment on the new strategy after he presents it to the board Friday.
The report says the new unit is an expansion of the service’s ongoing gang suppression strategy, with a four-pillar approach of suppression, prevention, intervention and education.
According to the document, because of “the increased availability of firearms and the potential for their use in criminal offences,” the chief has already pushed the WPS firearms investigative analysis section into the new guns and gangs unit.
Coun. Kevin Klein (Charleswood-Tuxedo-Westwood), chairman of the Winnipeg Police Board, said he’s eager to hear more about the plan.
“We want to make sure it is responding to what we hear in the community, and is it addressing the concerns?” Klein said Thursday. “Will it address the concerns of the public and will we be able to assess the success? It’s what we want to know.”
Meanwhile, Klein said the board will also delve into the portion of the proposed 2019 civic and capital budgets which deals with the WPS, so members can give their input.
“We will have our take on the budget,” he said. “It will be worth it for people to listen to what is happening because it is their money and their safety.”
kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca
Kevin Rollason is a general assignment reporter at the Free Press. He graduated from Western University with a Masters of Journalism in 1985 and worked at the Winnipeg Sun until 1988, when he joined the Free Press. He has served as the Free Press’s city hall and law courts reporter and has won several awards, including a National Newspaper Award. Read more about Kevin.
Every piece of reporting Kevin produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.
Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Kevin Rollason is a general assignment reporter at the Free Press. He graduated from Western University with a Masters of Journalism in 1985 and worked at the Winnipeg Sun until 1988, when he joined the Free Press. He has served as the Free Press’s city hall and law courts reporter and has won several awards, including a National Newspaper Award. Read more about Kevin.
Every piece of reporting Kevin produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.
Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
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