OFF THE WIRE
Pamela Roth
edmontonsun.com
It's a sight that's happened far too often in Edmonton and Winnipeg this year.
A city street or building is cordoned off with yellow police tape while emergency vehicles with flashing lights illuminate the night sky. Officers donning white jumpsuits comb the area for evidence while bodies are being wheeled away in bags. Police markers litter the ground wherever there are drops of blood or other evidence left behind from a night of violence.
Both Prairie cities have set records this year when it comes to homicides, labeling 2011 as the infamous year for murders.
Alberta's capital city is currently sitting at 47 homicides and Winnipeg is at 38 — each city setting the record in October and November respectively. The previous record for Edmonton was 39 in 2005 and 34 in 2004 for Winnipeg.
Edmonton's soaring homicide rate has puzzled the city's police chief Rod Knecht, whose repeatedly said there is no common pattern to the killings and they can't be attributed to a single cause or factor.
Const. Jason Michalyshen, public information officer for the Winnipeg Police Service (WPS), echoes that statement.
Some of Winnipeg's homicide victims have links to gangs, some were heavy substance abusers and 11 lives were taken at the hands of youths — a staggering jump over last year, where one youth was accused in connection to 22 confirmed killings.
Many of the people being killed in Winnipeg, like Edmonton, are young or male, and its through a variety of means, like assaults, stabbings, shootings and arsons Ñ one of which killed five people at a rooming house in July.
"It is very difficult to pinpoint one reason why our homicide rate has risen this year. There can be many contributing factors that are deep-rooted," said Michalyshen, who noted Winnipeg's population is about 693,000. Edmonton's is about one million.
"Many of the homicides to date are drug or alcohol fueled. In many cases, the victim and accused are known to one another," said Michalyshen.
With homicide scenes splashed across the front pages of newspapers a common sight this year, Michalyshen admits police and Winnipegers have heightened concern over the slayings.
Violent crime rates in Winnipeg's downtown have skyrocketed in recent years, jumping 25% in 2008 and 2009. Crime concerns soared to the point that Air Canada has stopped stationing pilots and flight crews on layovers in downtown hotels for safety reasons.
The city was also plagued by an ongoing biker war last summer when tensions mounted between the Hells Angels and Rock Machine, which resulted in more than a dozen firebombings and shootings, including one that injured an innocent 14-year-old boy.
But Michalyshen maintains many areas of crime are down, and police are making progress on holding those accountable for the killings.
So far this year, police have made arrests in all but three of the cases, putting the clearance rate at about 90%.
In Edmonton, police have managed to solve 27 of the 44 homicides they are investigating for a clearance rate of about 63%. Two of the homicides are being investigated by Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT).
Knecht admits that clearance rate could always be better, but it seems to be the average, with the exception of one year when it was around 80%.
"We have a number of unsolved files and we have to play catch up. We keep a file open until we solve it," said Knecht, who's looked at Winnipeg's crime-fighting strategy, but noted every homicide is different.
"Some of these are complex and when they are a who-done-it, they can take an extended period of time to solve and they require a lot more resources."
In order to keep up with the ballooning workload, last June an additional 12 cops from other departments within the Edmonton police force were added to the homicide unit, which consisted of 15 detectives, one crime analyst and three historical homicide detectives. Knecht has asked the city for even more cops during the next three years.
Like Edmonton, the killings have also pushed Winnipeg's homicide investigators to the max. Michalyshen would not say how many officers are now dedicated to the unit, but noted investigators have received assistance from other units when required to keep the cases moving forward.
"WPS members are busy, no question," said Michalyshen. "Citizens of Winnipeg, like the WPS are very concerned."
- with files from the Winnipeg Sun
pamela.roth@sunmedia.ca