OFF THE WIRE Tamara King
winnipegsun.com
Police might have been able to help curb some of the violent crime in Winnipeg’s downtown were it not for the summer’s budding war between rival biker gangs, the city’s top cop suggested in a recent Winnipeg Sun interview.
The rates of violent crime in the city’s core have climbed in recent years, jumping 25% during the years 2008 and 2009, according to the latest data from Winnipeg police.
Crime concerns soared to the point that Air Canada has stopped stationing pilots and flight crews on layovers in a downtown hotel for safety reasons.
Police recently pledged to boost the number of beat cops in the downtown, particularly around Portage Avenue, and police Chief Keith McCaskill confirmed during a Winnipeg Sun editorial board this week the service had planned to send extra officers into the area, but the idea got derailed because of the brewing conflict between the Rock Machine and Hells Angels.
40 HOMES MONITORED
Officers from across the city and various units diverted from their regular duties and sent to deal with the conflict, whether it was monitoring about 40 homes with known gang associates or knocking on doors nearby to warn residents about their gangster neighbours.
“That did take away some of the resources we were planning to put downtown. I think that if we had those resources, the violent crime may have gone down as well,” McCaskill told the Sun, adding: “Can’t say that for sure, but that was our plan.”
Over the past year, Winnipeg police say the violent crime rate inched up by 3.5% form January to October compared to the same period in 2010, although the full stats from last year are not yet available.
Since the start of the NHL season, the department has assigned additional officers and auxiliary cadets to the area when the Winnipeg Jets play on home ice at MTS Centre, but McCaskill suggested the city doesn’t have the resources to keep similar ‘game night like’ police presence out there all the time.
The city’s top cop is often quoted saying Winnipeg can’t police its way out of problems and true to form, McCaskill said in the Sun meeting that crime tends to go down when neighbourhoods are busy. For instance, when there’s a major event at the MTS Centre police have noticed a 51% drop on average of vehicle break-ins, McCaskill said.
“We have to be able to, as a city, continue to build and continue to get people interested,” said McCaskill, referring to the downtown.
tamara.king@sunmedia.ca
