A look into Winnipeg’s community safety team

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    Following a successful first month on the beat, Kurt Black joined members of Winnipeg's Community Safety Team on Monday. As they patrolled the city's downtown core.

    Since boarding city buses just over a month ago, members of Winnipeg’s community safety team have already dealt with over 100 disturbances and even saved a pair of lives.

    On Monday CityNews joined up with them for a morning patrol of the downtown core, here’s what we were able to see. 

    The patrol team’s training in non-violent crisis intervention and community engagement is about to come in handy.

    “Depending on the shift we are working; we’ll typically start the day by doing a big check on the downtown,” said Berman.

    “Very happy and proud that we have been this effective this early on.”

    Supervisor Sean Berman noticed a man taking shelter in a bus stop. He and fellow safety officers pulled over and took time to speak with the man and assess his needs before providing him with a free ride to a local shelter.

    Photo of Winnipeg’s community safety team. (Photo Credit: Kurt Black, CityNews)

    “He hoped in the car, and off to Siloam Mission he went. Hopefully, he can get a nice meal and warm up before continuing with his day.”

    Berman says his approach to situations like these, is to treat people how you would want to be treated.

    “Doesn’t matter who they are, where they are, everybody is a human. They all have the same needs and it’s only fair that you treat them like a friend or family,” he explained.

    Team Lead, Bob Chrismas has been impressed with how the program has rolled out through its first month. He hopes that as his team further establishes themselves in the community, they can lessen the burden on other emergency services.

    “Bursting with pride because I’m seeing the humanitarian approach that I think is a part of our culture in this city, really being expressed by this unit,” said Chrismas.

    “We don’t need to send a fire pump, ambulance, and police unit to check on the well-being of someone that a citizen calls in about. Potentially if we are in the area, we can check on them and cancel the need for the pump to be sent.”

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