Manitoba’s justice minister says the outcomes of the Winnipeg Police Service’s annual report present the province’s public security measures are working.
Matt Wiebe mentioned Wednesday that the 2024 report — which exhibits a lower in violent crime and crime severity — illustrates a few of the progress that has been made to this point.
“Manitobans know that to see actual change, we should tackle crime and the causes of crime,” mentioned Wiebe.
“Via our continued funding in front-line sources, collaboration with group companions and the WPS, we’re seeing reductions in violent crime and crime severity in Winnipeg.
“We’ve got extra work to do in Winnipeg and throughout the province to proceed making our communities safer and we’ll proceed to try this essential work throughout our authorities.”
Wiebe pointed to drops in youth violent crime, knife crime, and the addition of 12 new provincially-funded officers final yr — with extra to return in summer time and fall –as positives.
“Our investments within the retail crime initiative and an elevated presence in key areas have resulted in additional arrests and an general improve in security for companies and buyers alike,” mentioned Wiebe.
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“The WPS (Winnipeg Police Service) continues to do nice work in preserving Winnipeggers secure and we’ll proceed to work with them to make sure that everybody, irrespective of the place they reside, feels secure of their neighbourhood.”
The 2024 report says violent crime is down for the primary time in 4 years, with a 1.5 per cent drop in crimes together with assault, sexual assault and theft.
Property crimes had been additionally down about two per cent, hitting their lowest numbers since earlier than the COVID-19 pandemic.
Some stats, nonetheless, are on the rise. Police knowledge analyst David Bowman says shoplifting, for one, has elevated by 40 per cent.
“Whereas shoplifting continues to succeed in historic ranges, the proportion of those incidents escalating into violence is moderating,” Bowman mentioned.
“Industrial robberies plateaued in 2024, with incidents involving knives down 24 per cent … and incidents involving youth down 26 per cent.”
Police mentioned they responded to greater than 770,000 complete calls final yr — about 2,000 every day — which represents a 12.6 per cent improve over the five-year common.
Effectively-being checks stay the highest name for the fifth consecutive yr, with home occasions, disturbances, and household hassle additionally making up vital proportions of the police name quantity.
Bowman mentioned the variety of cybercrimes reported to police has additionally greater than tripled year-over-year.
“In 2024, the vast majority of cybercrimes had been fraud associated, adopted by baby pornography and extortion,” he mentioned.
“Amongst violent cybercrimes together with extortion, uttering threats, and sexual offences, the median sufferer age was 20 years outdated. Probably the most continuously reported sufferer age being simply 15 years outdated.”
Police Chief Gene Bowers mentioned whereas the shift in stats doesn’t characterize a victory, it’s actually a step in a optimistic course.
“We’ve been in collaboration with the province, the town, the group, companies like DCSP, our group security crew, justice, and Indigenous leaders and organizations, and we’re all working collectively to scale back crime in our metropolis, and particularly in our downtown,” he mentioned.
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