Advocates say the number of recent crimes in Winnipeg needs to change
Posted July 11, 2022 5:37 pm.
Last Updated July 12, 2022 10:39 am.
“This is a concern to us, but it’s not new to us.”
Last week, Winnipeg’s Chief of Police said the recent violent crimes committed at the Forks are on par with what Winnipeg usually sees every year. Words that a Winnipeg advocate agrees with, but say need to change.
“I felt his message was we better get used to it, my reaction is completely the opposite,” said Sel Burrows, community advocate.
“Danny’s right, we have normalized this very high level of violent crime. Hey! This is crisis time, this is time we have to move hard, change normal procedures and deal with all the people with guns and knives that are hurting people.”
Burrows says he would have liked to have heard a more succinct strategy come from Chief Smyth’s statement, especially since violent crime as-a-whole is up 5 per cent this year compared to 2020 numbers.
“The police need to connect better with the citizenry, people know who has guns, who have knives, who are taking girls to sexual appointments – they’ve got to make it easier for people to connect with police and give them information without asking them intrusive questions that people in the inner-city aren’t comfortable answering.”
Bear Clan’s Kevin Walker says people are struggling to make ends meet, and more resources are part of the answer to reducing crime. “Desperate times, desperate measures.
“Just in the north end, we have a food distribution hub where we feed 600-700 people daily at the door, you take that out of the community and that’s going to put a lot of pressure on people to eat – you can’t afford to feed your family, you resort to desperate measures to feed them.”
Although Burrows agrees more resources are needed – he says the guns and knives are here and police are the only people who can deal with that – and the police have to adjust tactics and utilize what Winnipeggers can offer, to start reducing violent crime each year.
“We’ve got a whole bunch of private sector actors that could bring another thousand eyes to the street – including security guards, taxi drivers, caretakers of apartment blocks, all of them could be brought to bare, to identify criminals before the actual act in a serious criminal manner,” said Burrows.
Dr. Kelly Gorkoff is the criminal justice department chair at the University of Winnipeg. She says Smyth’s right in that these crimes aren’t new, just more visible since they happened at the forks.
In a statement, she says, “Perhaps Mr. Smyth should have added that city and provincial governments need to address poverty rates, livable income, safe housing, youth supports etc. which will go a long way in reducing these types of crimes.”
Winnipeg has recorded 27 homicides in 2022, putting the city on track for another record year.
