Force used by Winnipeg police declined in 2021
Posted June 3, 2022 5:46 pm.
Last Updated June 4, 2022 10:01 am.
A variety of topics were discussed at the Winnipeg police board meeting on Friday. Police use of force saw a slight decline in 2021 and police leadership says the drop is a positive one.
Instances of force by the police fell by roughly six per cent in 2021, down to 699 recorded last year compared to 748 the year previous. Winnipeg Police Chief Danny Smyth says de-escalation tactics are working, noting less than 1 percent of calls require the use of force.
“Use of force is a last resort. We don’t want to use force when we’re dealing with people and we don’t. As I said, 0.3 of one per cent is the number of events that we have to report on. By and large, our interactions with the community are without force,” explained Smyth.
While the use of force is down, a separate report found overtime is up. Chief Danny Smyth says compared to the first quarter of 2021, there’s been a 29 per cent increase, with the pandemic and a rise in violent crime contributing factors.
“It has a trickle-down, it’s not just the homicide unit that gets called out. It’s the forensics unit. It’s our frontline units that are often first there, so they secure the scene, they secure the witnesses, it has an impact on the cue, it does start to back up,” added Smyth.
Coun. Markus Chambers, chair of the police board, says the increase in these types of crime is concerning.
“I don’t think there’s one Winnipegger that’s not concerned about this, because it impacts our ability to re-emerge as a vibrant city if these stigmas are placed on us [flash] It’s a matter of having a plan to address these concerns so we can remove the stigma of crime in our community and the stigma of being a murder capital,” said Chambers. “These are all things we don’t want here in the city of Winnipeg.”
Chief Smyth says Winnipeg is still a relatively safe city. Winnipeg Police Association’s Maurice Sabourin says he feels the situation is much worse than police leadership is letting on.
“It’s not just an uptick and a trend, it’s been getting worse and worse and worse in the eight years the chief has been in charge.”
He says officers on the frontline are under immense pressure and burnout is high. He says right now, officers are going from call to call, unable to do proactive policing, claiming there is a “serious leadership void” within the service.
“If I was the GM of a successful sports team and the team wasn’t doing well, you’d probably change the coach [flash] That’s the not my position to make that decision, that is the police board, the police board is responsible for monitoring the chief’s performance and I would say he’s getting a failing grade at this point.”
