A collaborative effort between the city of Winnipeg and its police service is being looked at as one of the many ways to make the downtown core safer.
Other approaches have also been lauded as potential safety measures. Mayor Scott Gillingham said one such way is by having people live downtown, explaining that “there is strength in numbers.”
This comes a week after a 17-year-old was attacked by a group of people leaving a concert outside the Canada Life Centre. He remains in hospital in critical condition.
“We can’t just stand for and be okay with people randomly being attacked, (as well as) this kind of violence downtown,” said Gillingham. “That’s why there’s concerted efforts right now… to make the downtown safer.”
Const. Shawn Black was one of the officers first on the scene at the June 17 attack. He said it was sad knowing that while people were out celebrating, a teenager was the victim to an “act of savage violence.”
“We were actually just coming out of the police station right when that happened,” said Black. “We were able to gather up some witnesses that saw it.”