Winnipeg Police Service officers will be in the downtown area Friday evening, proactively patrolling, including on foot, before, during and after the Winnipeg Jets season home-opener against the Chicago Blackhawks.
WPS Insp. Helen Peters, who recently took over as commander of the downtown district, told reporters Friday afternoon police are working with other organizations to make sure people are safe downtown.
“Not only to enjoy Jets games, but every kind of event that we have, from concerts to conferences, we are going to be here,” Peters said at True North Square, across from the Canada Life Centre.
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WPS Insp. Helen Peters says police are working with other organizations to make sure people are safe downtown.
Peters said the police service has taken in feedback from organizations including True North Sports and Entertainment — which owns the arena, the Jets and Manitoba Moose — about downtown safety.
WPS officials have discussed expanding the police footprint downtown and making officers more visible with its partners, such as the Downtown Community Safety Partnership and other community organizations, she said.
“As police officers, we’re so often caught in that cycle of responding to events after they’ve happened, and what we really want to do is be a proactive resource and support,” said Peters.
For example, she said, police have taken complaints about vehicles being broken into while people are attending downtown events, so the service is working on making officers and their vehicles visible in and around parking lots and parkades during large events.
WPS also plans to establish additional foot-patrol teams with other community organizations in certain areas, she said.
“We’re going to continuously listen,” she said. “Please reach out to my officers, please reach out to the community-safety teams, the DCSP, as you see them in the walkways, when you see them on the streets, if you see them in the parking lots, let them know if you see something that makes you feel unsafe.”
She added not everything that makes people uncomfortable is a criminal matter — what she called “well-being events” — but that police can help direct resources to assist people.
The impromptu police news conference Friday came amid polling suggesting Winnipeg residents are concerned about downtown safety.
Six in 10 Winnipeggers think conditions downtown are worsening, compared to 30 per cent who say it hasn’t changed and seven per cent who say things are better, a Free Press-Probe Research poll found last month.
That poll, which sampled 600 Winnipeg adults, was conducted between Sept. 5 and 17. With 95 per cent certainty, it has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 per cent.
erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca
Erik Pindera
Reporter
Erik Pindera is a reporter for the Free Press, mostly focusing on crime and justice. The born-and-bred Winnipegger attended Red River College Polytechnic, wrote for the community newspaper in Kenora, Ont. and reported on television and radio in Winnipeg before joining the Free Press in 2020. Read more about Erik.
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