Winnipeg is poised to see its most violent year on record, but police say the city’s homicide rate could be much higher if it wasn’t for a recent push to have officers provide emergency medical care.
With the death of William Markowski, 47, who was found unresponsive on Johnson Avenue West early Monday, Winnipeg has now recorded 44 homicides in 2022, matching a record-setting year for violence set in 2019.
At a press conference earlier this week, police spokesperson Const. Jay Murray said the city is on pace to see more than 50 homicides this year.
But he added the quick action of police at the scene of violent crimes has likely kept more victims from being added to the list.
“We go to calls every day where people are critically injured. Over the past few years, we’ve taken a number of steps to improve the medical care that we can offer as police officers,” he said.
“There’s a firm belief within the service that the homicide count could be double if we weren’t able to provide that medical intervention.”
Const. Rob Saurette, who manages the WPS tactical trauma care program, says the training program was developed just shy of two years ago, and since then roughly 1,200 officers have been certified.
“It’s just some basic skills — we call them life-extending skills — to essentially get (injured people) to paramedics,” Saurette told 680 CJOB’s The Start, Thursday.
“If we can stop that traumatic bleed … or prevent that lung from collapsing to get our paramedics to get them to the hospital — that’s essentially what we’re trying to do here.”
Saurette says trained officers are equipped to stop major bleeds with tourniquets, treat chest wounds with chest seals, and pack wounds in instances where tourniquets can’t be applied.
And it’s not just useful when an officer is first at a scene, but also for situations where paramedics can’t come to help due to safety concerns, he said.
“Paramedics, they’re not allowed to be on hot zones per se, which is a scene that’s actively dangerous,” Saurette explains.
“That’s why the need for this training … is so important.
“Essentially, our paramedics are amazing in Winnipeg, and so are our doctors … (but) we have to get them there.”
Saurette said officers are using their training in real-life scenarios on city streets on a weekly basis.
He said all of the service’s just under 1,500 members will receive the training, and the program has been expanded to include police cadets as well.
“The more people with this type of training, for me, is definitely a benefit to to everyone in Winnipeg,” he said.
“Because then our cadets or police officers could roll on to a scene and, should they deem it safe enough to provide this medical care, they just do so because they do have the training and the tools.”