The backlog of calls to police recently hit an “alarming” high of 440 and dozens of additional officers are needed to meet the demand, says Winnipeg Police Service’s interim chief.
Art Stannard said he’d like to see 78 more officers hired to respond to the calls.
“(That number of calls) is way past our ability to provide the services (Winnipeggers) need. So, we had to use overtime that weekend and we’ve been using overtime every weekend to try to keep the calls at a reasonable rate. We’re averaging about 300 calls a day waiting to be dispatched,” said Stannard after Friday’s police board meeting.
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS FILES
WPS had a record backlog of 440 calls in the queue on Aug. 31, interim chief Art Stannard said.
The interim chief said a record backlog of 440 calls in the queue took place Aug. 31. Around 10 a.m. that morning, police added a post on X that asked the public for patience due to “heavy call volumes.”
Stannard said that level of demand is daunting for the current complement of officers.
“We worry about their well-being. They’re overwhelmed. Where do you start?” he said.
Stannard said 78 more officers would provide one more cruiser per division, which would make a substantial difference in addressing the workload, if funding can be secured to pay for it.
He said the increased workload is directly linked to growth in Winnipeg’s geographic size and population over recent years.
“The city’s expanded but the (police cruisers) have not expanded. So, yes, we do need more cars out there,” he said.
Winnipeg’s population increased to 815,599 in 2023 from 695,436 in 2013, according to the Environment for Policing in Winnipeg 2024 report. The number of calls for service to the WPS communications centre rose to 783,248 in 2023, up 9.8 per cent from the previous year, the report notes.
WPS had 1,366 police officers in 2023, down from 1,463 in 2013, according to a 2023 WPS statistical report.
Stannard said police officers also responded to a record number of protests this year, which imposed further demands on their time.
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS FILES
An additional 78 officers for the WPS would provide one more cruiser per division, the police service’s interim chief said.
“Absolutely, it taxes our resources right to the limit… That’s a big part of why calls are going up. Our members are getting diverted into other services,” he said.
Police have responded to 415 protests this year, so far, as of Thursday, up from a record 299 last year, members of the Winnipeg Police Board heard Friday.
“Protests and special events have outrageously increased,” Supt. Dave Dalal said.
Dalal said community support unit officers are regularly diverted to demonstrations to keep crowds safe. He said police can face challenges in staging a response, especially when organizers ask them to stay away, which he said took place prior to a protest at Portage Avenue and Main Street on Sept. 4.
That factor led police to monitor the event from about a block or so away from the site, Dalal said.
“Crowd policing is dynamic and dangerous, depending on the size of the crowd, the intent of the crowd and the manner in which we police it. We always try to take an approach that tries to put the least amount of officers at harm, at risk and face-to-face with a crowd, specifically in (an) instance where we were the focus (of the protest),” Dalal told reporters after the meeting.
“There (are) not enough officers in the city to arrest our way out of crowds. So, engaging in use of force incidents in a crowd situation is the last thing we do,” he added.
Some members of the public questioned the police strategy after a motorist drove through a blockade at the protest and struck a cyclist. Some protesters then jumped on the vehicle, tried to pull the driver out of it and punched him in the face.
The Portage and Main protest followed the death of Tammy Bateman, an Indigenous woman in her 30s who was struck by a police vehicle at the Fort Rouge Park riverside homeless encampment on Sept. 2.
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A record-high police response to protests this year is part of why police resources are stretched, interim chief Art Stannard said.
Coun. Markus Chambers, the chairman of the police board, said he expects to discuss calls to hire more officers to deal with the increasing workload with the next permanent police chief.
“We know the unsustainability of overtime … from an economic perspective as well as a human resources perspective … It’s time to have that discussion (about hiring more officers),” said Chambers.
He said the board aims to recommend a new chief to city council by November to replace former chief Danny Smyth, who retired earlier this month.
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Joyanne Pursaga
Reporter
Joyanne is city hall reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. A reporter since 2004, she began covering politics exclusively in 2012, writing on city hall and the Manitoba Legislature for the Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in early 2020. Read more about Joyanne.
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