Violent crime down slightly in Winnipeg in 2024, while traffic crimes rise sharply: police data

Winnipeg police saw a small drop in total crime volume in 2024, driven by a decrease in violent crimes and property crimes.

The total crime volume from 2023 to 2024 went down less than a percentage point. Violent crimes – such as assaults, robberies, and sexual assaults – were down 1.4 per cent while property crimes were down 2.3 per cent.

“I think we have to celebrate even a small decrease,” said Art Stannard, the WPS’ deputy chief of support services.

“We saw a significant decrease across nearly all major violent crime categories: robberies, assaults, homicides,” added Dave Bowman, a WPS data analyst.

The findings were part of the Winnipeg Police Service’s annual report, released Wednesday morning.

Winnipeg saw its first meaningful decrease (five per cent) in violent crime severity in over a decade.

Youth violent crime was down for the first time in four years, bolstered by youth violent crime with a weapon dropping 23 per cent.

“Manitobans know that to see real change, we must address crime and the causes of crime,” said Justice Minister Matt Wiebe, who credited the province’s investment in front-line resources, and collaboration with community partners and the WPS.

“We have more work to do in Winnipeg and across the province to continue making our communities safer and we will continue to do that important work across our government.”

Property crime volume decreased for the second year in a row, dropping to pre-pandemic levels. But police deputies say it’s possible that’s because people are tired of reporting it.

“We recognize that there are people that have had enough,” said Cam Mackid, deputy chief of investigations. “If their car gets broken into, they don’t want to go through the time and effort to report it.”

Some notable increases

Mackid encouraged Winnipeggers to make those reports so police can see where resources are needed. That’s what helped spark extra funding to combat retail theft last year. Those numbers were up this year, despite provincial funding to target shoplifting hotspots.

“With the increased enforcement and the increased education, we expected to see a spike, and we did,” Mackid said.

There were other notable increases. Traffic crimes shot up 13.8 per cent compared to 2023, with impaired driving offences up 30.9 per cent, and driving while on drugs up eight fold.

“The increase in impaired driving is directly related to enhanced enforce initiatives that we are undertaking with our partners at MPI,” explained Scot Halley, deputy chief of operations.

“I was actually shocked at the numbers. Just under 50 per cent of the drivers that we did test, were testing positive for cannabis in their system.”

What Winnipeg police categorizes as “other crimes,” which includes bail and probation violations, rose 11.7 per cent.

Looking at it by neighbourhood, crime in the West district saw the biggest jump, especially in Fort Garry, where reported crime shot up by nearly 23 per cent. Police say that’s largely driven by a population boom, and they’ll be looking at how to better allocate resources.

In downtown Winnipeg, crime actually dropped, which police attribute to good coordination between multiple agencies.

“That downtown safety strategy, it’s with everybody working together and knowing what each agency does and what their responsibilities are and to ensure we’ve kind of got a blanket across downtown,” said Winnipeg police Chief Gene Bowers.

‘Historic high’ for non-dispatched events

Meanwhile, for the fourth year in a row the number of non-dispatched events by the Winnipeg Police Service has increased to a “historic high.”

The statistical report found more than 32,500 calls were not dispatched by Winnipeg police, the highest it’s been since 2019.

The police force is now doing an operational review to see how to better deploy resources.

But the increasing number of calls without a proper dispatched response is a concern for police, with WPS brass saying more 36 officers, on top of the 36 promised in 2025, are needed.

–With files from Morgan Modjeski