The Winnipeg Police Service’s online system for the public to report crimes is having technical issues.
As a result, some people who file e-reports are not receiving an email response with the official report number, which they may need for insurance purposes or to provide more information to police while they investigate, Insp. Helen Peters said on Friday.
Police are working with a vendor to try and fix it. In the meantime, they’re asking anyone who filed a report and didn’t get a response saying it was “approved,” “rejected,” or had “further information required” to email WPS-online@winnipeg.ca.
It’s unclear how many people have been affected, said Peters, commander of records and reporting division.
“We are receiving those reports but we’re not aware who is getting their report numbers back and who is not,” Peters said.
The system problems were discovered during the first quarter of 2024, but Peters could not say exactly when the issues began.
The reporting system is another way to report certain types of crime.
“It’s a quick and convenient method for making police reports that are not emergency and do not have a suspect,” said Peters. “People that wish to complete a report can [still] do so instead of waiting for an officer to call them or to meet with them in person.”
More than 11,349 online reports were processed in the first three months of the year, and a “limited number of people” were affected by the technical issues, according to a Friday press release.