'The situation is not normal': Community leaders respond to Winnipeg police chief's comments on crime

Winnipeg community leaders are speaking up for new approaches in the wake of Chief Danny Smyth's comments Friday that the levels of crime in the city are "not new." 

Concern about violent crime as an issue has sparked after a series of violent acts at The Forks in the week leading up to the start of July. 

Smyth said calls for service to the popular public gathering place and tourist destination are in line with past trends and relatively small in the overall picture of crime in Winnipeg. 

Some, however, are expressing concern that Smyth's comments normalize an unenviable status quo. 

"A, it's true, but B, that's horrible – the fact that this is not new and that we're still sitting here with no really good strategy," said Sel Burrows in a Sunday interview. 

"The message is, 'there's not much we can do, this is normal, this is happening,' instead of saying, 'hey, we the police have to look at some different ways of doing things,'" Burrows said. 

"The high crime rate [has] become normal. And when we start saying, OK, it's just normal, we're not going to stop it. And Winnipeggers – all Winnipeggers – should be disgusted with the high crime rate we have," he said. 

Burrows said police — including Smyth — need to do more to get community members involved in helping deal with the problem and make it easier to work with police. 

"We must get people who live and work in areas involved in crime prevention. It's very basic and very cheap," he said. 

Criminologist and University of Winnipeg associate professor of criminal justice Kevin Walby said Smyth, backed on Friday by Winnipeg Police Board chair Coun. Markus Chambers, are not being honest about the reality of Winnipeg's situation. 

"The situation is not normal, and policing is not going to address the kinds of harm and transgression and conflict that we see in Winnipeg," Walby said, acknowledging there's "a lot of distress" in the city ranging from economic inequality, to mental health issues, lack of affordable housing and substance addictions. 

But the two officials are in a conflict when it comes to how to deal with the situation as they have to promote the police service and fight for budget dollars to support it, said Walby. 

Walby is an advocate for investing police budgets back into social services, community supports and housing. He said civic leaders and politicians need to work on the social issues that underpin crime problems.

We're not going to criminalize our way out of any kind of uptick in transgression and in conflict. The more we lock people up, the more we're actually kind of dissolving what social bonds remain in our communities," Walby said.