Councillor concerned with Winnipeg police crime reporting project

A new pilot project from the Winnipeg Police Service has not landed well with a city councillor, as police announce a new way to report a crime at police stations.

“I heard about it through the Winnipeg Police Association. I thought it was actually a joke,” said Russ Wyatt, City Councillor for Transcona.

A 24-7 virtual reporting system is what police proposed to the Winnipeg Police Board. Instead of speaking to an officer upon entering a police station to report a non-urgent incident, you’d approach a phone and screen.

“It won’t be the model like we’ve had in the past, where you’ll be greeted by an officer sitting behind the desk,” said Danny Smyth, Winnipeg Police Chief.

“If you’re going to interact initially, it will be a volunteer at the other end of that. They’ll act more like a way-finder. If it’s appropriate for online reporting they steer you that way, if it’s something more conducive to virtual reporting they’ll steer you that way, if it’s something that actually does require dispatch, they’ll steer you that way as well.”

The 12-month-long pilot project is designed to reduce calls to 911 operators. These operators handle police, fire and ambulance calls, and Smyth says they’re overwhelmed.

“Our comms centre is under stress. We’re struggling with retention, a lot of injuries coming out of the comms centre – when I refer to injuries – it’s stress injuries, people are having a difficult time coping with the volume and we need to make some changes there,” said Smyth.

Wyatt was not a fan of the WPS closing district police stations to the public during the pandemic, despite police saying it freed up 18 officers per station for foot patrols.

“The executive and the board need to give their head a shake if that’s the solution! It can’t be. There needs to be actual bodies that people need to talk to, especially if they’re in distress about something and I don’t think that’s too much to ask.”

Wyatt says keeping them closed, and enacting virtual reporting are both wrong moves. A psychologist agrees, that in times of crisis, the human approach is often more effective.

“As in any trauma situation, a person’s cognitive abilities are going to be affected, not just in how they speak but in memory,” explained Dr. Alan Gutkin, Psychologist. “It’s already difficult enough, so it would be better to have a face-to-face so you can get assistance, and the person doing the interview could ask questions, as opposed to you just figuring it out on your own.”

Smyth anticipates the pilot beginning around spring, but says the police headquarters would still be an option for reporting, as well as calling non-emergency to get a cruiser to come to you.