Bigger police presence to be felt on Winnipeg transit buses

Winnipeg Police Service seal
(Photo from the official Twitter account of the Winnipeg Police Service).

WINNIPEG—Police officers are going to start riding transit buses in Winnipeg.

The move comes after repeated requests from the transit drivers’ union.

The number of assaults on bus drivers is up more than 50 per cent in the last year, for a total of 60 cases in 2015.

Police Chief Devon Clunis says he won’t actually be assigning officers to work their whole shift on buses yet.

But officers in the downtown areas and some cadets will be instructed to use buses to get to and from their beats

It’s unclear whether the officers would be uniformed or in plain clothes.

The plan will be discussed further at a meeting of the Winnipeg Police Board on Friday.