The union representing city police officers is pushing back at the Winnipeg Police Service‘s decision to call a state of emergency, which could encroach on members’ rights and shift focus away from specialized units, as calls to police and violent crimes remain high.
“I fear it’s going to put some panic into the citizens of Winnipeg,” Winnipeg Police Association president Maurice Sabourin told 680 CJOB Thursday.
WPS Chief Danny Smyth declared a state of emergency Wednesday as COVID-19 threatens staffing levels, a decision supported by Mayor Brian Bowman and police board chair Coun. Markus Chambers. Smyth suggested it would give him more flexibility to redeploy members.
As of Wednesday, the service counted about 90 active cases among more than 170 having booked time off due to the illness.
Eighty officers will be deployed to general patrol starting Monday, Smyth announced Wednesday.
Sabourin, however, insisted provisions within the collective agreement already allow Smyth to redeploy resources to a certain degree.
“We do know that general patrol is having a difficult time filling cruiser cars, but there are resources without calling a state of emergency that the chief can reallocate into GP,” Sabourin said.
Smyth informed the union of his decision an hour before making it public, Sabourin said, saying it was short notice considering two years of regularly working together to address COVID-19-related concerns.
A WPS spokesperson said Friday the declaration “merely signaled the commencement of the implementation of the WPS business continuity plan.”
“This represents a planned strategic response by the service to allow staffing flexibility in response to rapidly changing employee health status,” they said, adding they didn’t have more information at this time.
Despite the need for more crews on general patrol, Sabourin said he hopes the state of emergency won’t last long, so officers can return to the community support unit and the guns and gangs unit.
Winnipeg crime prevention activist Sel Burrows also worries about Smyth’s move to pull from two specialized units essential for keeping neighbourhoods safe.
“Of course we need people to answer 911, but the community support unit is one of the most effective (at) community policing,” Burrows told 680 CJOB Thursday. “It’s there to follow up on issues.
“They have been the major force along with bylaw enforcement in making North Point Douglas a safer area.”
The guns and gangs unit is also crucial in keeping criminal organizations on the run, which helps prevent them from grouping and reorganizing, Burrows continued.
Police, along with active residents living in the area, managed to dissuade gangs from coming into the neighbourhood, said Burrows, co-founder of the Point Douglas Powerline.
“We can’t hire enough police and social workers to deal with the crime social issues we’ve got,” he said. “You’ve got to have the community involved.”
Chambers, however, told 680 CJOB he’s confident in Smyth’s plan, despite the year-over-year rise in violent crimes.
“Redeploying units that are not in high demand at this current time is a good plan,” Chambers said. “(Smyth is) trying to look forward in terms of the resources that will be necessary to keep the lights on and the phones ringing.
“There is always that concern with respect to rising crime and how we work with our community service partners to address some of those issues,” Chambers said. “The Winnipeg Police Service cannot do it all on their own.
“We can’t arrest our way out of the high rise in crime,” he said. “We have to focus on the root causes and ensure that we’re paying proper attention to the issues that are causing crime as well.
“It’s a matter of co-ordinating better dispatchable services to the service needs.”
According to Burrows, the pandemic is an opportunity for the WPS to refocus on what’s most important. Sabourin, too, said he hopes the state of emergency drives the service to realize it has to put more resources into general patrol, a department that he says has been chronically understaffed for the past decade.
“We know that our members are completely reactive. There’s no proactive patrolling because they are going from call to call to call,” Sabourin said. “There’s rarely time for a lunch break, and there’s rarely time to grab a coffee.”
The City of Winnipeg announced Wednesday that it’s looking for public feedback on future police funding plans.
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