A new study by the Association of Manitoba Municipalities (AMM) says Manitobans are feeling less safe in their communities than they did pre-pandemic.
The study, which was conducted in early June with 1,000 respondents, suggests that only five per cent of Manitobans feel safer than they did only three years ago, and a whopping 56 per cent suggest they now feel less safe.
That sentiment, the AMM said, was fairly evenly spread across most gender, education, political and income demographics.
Another 39 per cent said they haven’t noticed a change.
In a statement Monday, AMM president Karen Blight said the survey was conducted with the upcoming provincial election in mind. The campaign ramps up in September with the vote coming Oct. 3.
“Manitoba’s municipalities are the order of government closest to the people, and given it’s an election year, we thought we’d check our provincial priorities against public sentiment,” Blight said.
“Turns out the issues we’ve been pressing are through the roof in the public’s mind.
“Only 5 per cent of Manitobans feel ‘more safe’ now than they did three years ago. Think about that for a second. And this crosses demographics. Women and men, all income levels, all parts of Manitoba. If that isn’t a call to action, then I don’t know what is.”
Get daily Winnipeg news
AMM Vice President Kathy Valentino said the sentiment demands action.
“When there is a clear majority that says they feel less safe than they did a few years ago, it means that something obviously has to be done,” she said.
Valentino said more policing could address the safety issue, but RCMP say their rural forces face challenges when it comes to coverage.
“In Manitoba, we’re policing an area that’s larger than most European countries. So that’s a very large area to police. So our response times are often indicative of that,” Manitoba RCMP Media Relations Officer Tara Seel told 860 CJOB’s The Jim Toth Show.
As of the end of 2022 the vacancy rate for RCMP members sat at four per cent.
“There’s no sugarcoating it … we are short for officers right now,” Seel said.
The Mounties have plans to recruit more officers, including a streamlined application process to become an officer, a new contract which comes with higher pay and programs to target communities with lower application rates.
The Manitoba government announced Monday they are spending $13.7 million to address policing shortages through increases to its public safety basket funding. In March the AMM released statement calling on the federal government to absorb retroactive salary costs to the RCMP after they negotiated a new collective agreement last year due to “inflationary pressures and affordability concerns from ratepayers.”
The survey also asked respondents about the reliability of their cellphone reception, with only a third of rural and northern Manitobans saying they trust their cell service in an emergency.
– with files from Talha Hashmani