Winnipeg police say a new virtual tool being used by officers is improving wait times across the city.
The pilot project called the “virtual police response” or VPR project started with a goal of reducing wait times for Winnipeggers looking to file reports.
It works by having officers take a virtual tour of a home that’s been broken into, instead of physically going to the crime scene.
During the pilot project, a new city report says there was a 96 per cent satisfaction rate from people who used the service.
It also shows dispatch calls were reduced from 114 hours on average to 13.9 hours. The time to process a crime scene also fell from two hours to just 30 minutes.
The report says if all break and enters were handled this way, the Winnipeg police service could save between $123,748.38 to $173,247.73.