Gang activity central in race for Daniel Mac

Police need to walk the beat says incumbent

A clash over how to deal with gangs in the inner-city is brewing between council contenders in the Daniel McIntyre ward and the Winnipeg Police Service (WPS).

Those vying for the council seat say they want police to take a more active role in policing area schools and parks – but police say putting more cops on the beat won’t happen without a substantial investment of cash.

Incumbent Harvey Smith, who sits on the city’s protection and community service committee, says cops should be out walking around more in the neighbourhood, especially around downtown’s Central Park, where he says he’s hung posters offering a $10 reward to people who see a cop on foot in the area.

“Only after that did we see a police officer,” he says.

Smith says he’d like to see more foot patrols in his ward, but a lack of enthusiasm from police in co-ordinating and training them has scuttled the idea.

Police, however, see gangs as a problem which can be managed, not eliminated, and it will take more tax dollars to keep up the fight.

“It’s a problem which will never go away – people say we should have more cops, but more cops means higher taxes,” said Const. Roel Orteza, Oct. 2 at a public presentation on gangs at the University of Winnipeg.

Orteza says there’s a lot the city should be doing to crack down on gangs by supporting more school programs which put cops in touch with inner-city youth – but stopped short of saying there would be more of these programs to come.

“It’s not going to happen – we take programs into the schools, but you can only do so much.”

Orteza says he’s not worried about city police taking heat for not having enough beat cops walking around.

“We’ll always be criticized – we’ll just have to live with it.”

According to the Const. Pat Chabidon, there are four beat cops that cover four beats in the Spence area, all of which are based out of the Broadway detachment where he works.

“What they’d like is to spend three quarters of their time out there on foot. In reality, it’s probably more like a quarter of their time,” says Chabidon.

“It’s not like it’s written in stone. The beat guys like to be out there as much as possible,” says Chabidon.

Don Salter, another council contender for the ward – which is home to the crime-crippled Langside Street (known by residents as Gangside) – says the City should work toward having community constables operate out of community centres, which he thinks will give area children a chance to see police as allies, not enemies.

Still, he says, if the cops don’t get behind new approaches of how they operate in communities, not much would get done.

“The police have to care…we could add 100 or 1,000 (new officers) but if they don’t give a crap, it won’t matter…all you see is fences around houses in the inner city – everyone’s afraid and they’re holed up in their houses,” he says.

Trudy Turner, on leave from her job as executive director of the West End Biz in order to run for council in Daniel Mac, says foot patrols help provide a comfort zone between residents and police.

“People will give information to community patrols, but not to police,” she says.

Turner says integrating new immigrants with the help of good role models is another way to stop gangs from preying on their vulnerabilities.

“The gang problem is exacerbated by the fact there are so many new Canadians (in the ward) – the gangs recruit in their communities,” she says.

Turner says police she’s spoken to have expressed a desire to be out on foot more so they can feel a part of the community.

“We need beat patrol officers in our inner-city areas – they need to get out on foot,” she says.