{"id":223930,"date":"2019-07-22T21:30:44","date_gmt":"2019-07-23T01:30:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=223930"},"modified":"2019-07-22T21:30:44","modified_gmt":"2019-07-23T01:30:44","slug":"we-need-some-relief-winnipeg-police-chief-says-meth-leading-to-jump-in-crime","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/07\/22\/we-need-some-relief-winnipeg-police-chief-says-meth-leading-to-jump-in-crime\/","title":{"rendered":"‘We need some relief:’ Winnipeg police chief says meth leading to jump in crime"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cThere’s no other major city in Canada that is dealing with a meth crisis like we are,\u201d Chief Danny Smyth said Monday after the release of the Winnipeg Police Service’s statistical report for 2018. (File Photo<\/a>: @Winnipeg Police Service\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

WINNIPEG \u2014 A methamphetamine crisis is behind a major increase in Winnipeg’s property crimes, says the city’s police chief, and it will only worsen if governments continue to fall behind on addiction treatment options.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere’s no other major city in Canada that is dealing with a meth crisis like we are,\u201d Chief Danny Smyth said Monday after the release of the Winnipeg Police Service’s statistical report for 2018.<\/p>\n

The report shows property crime increased by nearly 20 per cent from the previous year and was 44 per cent higher than the five-year average.<\/p>\n

There were spikes in the number of break-in, vehicle theft, fraud and mischief investigations. Violent crime rates also remained high and robberies shot up about 10 per cent.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can tell you that we are halfway through 2019 and things are getting worse,\u201d Smyth said.<\/p>\n

There have been 25 homicides in Winnipeg so far this year, three more than there were in all of 2018.<\/p>\n

There have also been four police-involved shootings, four in-custody deaths and an armed standoff. Smyth said nearly all have involved drugs.<\/p>\n

The Addictions Foundation of Manitoba has said meth use has increased by more than 100 per cent in adults and nearly 50 per cent in youth since 2014.<\/p>\n

The Bear Clan Patrol, a neighbourhood watch group, picked up 4,000 needles in 2017. That skyrocketed to 40,000 in 2018. The group has already picked up 60,000 needles this year.<\/p>\n

Nineteen police officers have been stuck with needles in the last few years, Smyth added.<\/p>\n

A government-commissioned report released in June called for more detox facilities, longer-term treatment programs and a way to safely distribute needles to fight rising meth use.<\/p>\n

The number of people in publicly funded addictions programs who reported using meth more than doubled between 2014-15 and 2016-2017, the report said.<\/p>\n

Smyth said he understands a comprehensive response to addictions will take time, but safe shelters and detox units could be opened immediately.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need some relief sooner than later.\u201d<\/p>\n

Addressing crime and addictions cannot rest solely with police, said Winnipeg Mayor Brian Bowman.<\/p>\n

He called on the provincial and federal governments to provide funds and resources. A provincial election in September does not mean action should be delayed, Bowman added.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s very difficult to imagine how we can think of Manitoba becoming one of the most improved provinces when Manitoba’s crime rates rank as the worst in Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n

The health minister’s office said it had not received a meeting request from the police chief. It pointed to ongoing work to provide funds for more shelter beds and mental-health and addictions supports.<\/p>\n

Justice Minister Cliff Cullen said the departments are working co-operatively to share information and implement solutions. There will be further discussions with police, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere’s no silver bullet to this and it’s going to take a comprehensive approach to address it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Statistics Canada also released data on Monday from its Crime Severity Index, which measures the volume and severity of police-reported crime.<\/p>\n

The country’s overall crime rate and the severity of crime increased by two per cent from last year, but it is substantially lower than a decade ago.<\/p>\n

Statistics Canada noted that methamphetamine offences increased by 13 per cent and possession of meth had the second-highest incident rate, following only cannabis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WINNIPEG \u2014 A methamphetamine crisis is behind a major increase in Winnipeg’s property crimes, says the city’s police chief, and …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":223935,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-223930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news-ca","category-news","mauthors-kelly-geraldine-malone","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=223930"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223930\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":223938,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223930\/revisions\/223938"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/223935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=223930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=223930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}