The Winnipeg Police Service’s minimum number of cruiser cars per shift is increasing today for the first time in decades.
A two-officer general patrol vehicle is being added to each shift in west district — the largest of the city’s four districts — where significant neighbourhood expansion and population growth have occurred.
“West district was the obvious choice (for an additional cruiser), just based on our call volume and the sheer extent of our having to get to the calls for service,” district commander Insp. Max Waddell said.
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Winnipeg Police Service Insp. Max Waddell, west district commander, says the district was the ‘obvious choice’ for an additional cruiser.
“Adding one more is definitely going to assist us in managing our calls for service.”
The current city-wide minimum is 28 cruisers per shift or seven per district. West district’s eighth cruiser, which was scheduled to hit the road at 7 a.m., will raise the overall complement to 29.
Another new cruiser is slated to hit the road in the fall. A decision is still to be made on which district the 30th cruiser will be deployed to, Waddell said.
In 2025, city council approved nearly $9 million for an additional 36 officers, one support staff member and two cruisers. At the time, deputy chief Art Stannard said the number of general patrol cars per shift would increase for the first time in more than 20 years.
The WPS uses an 18:1 personnel deployment ratio, meaning it requires 18 constables to deploy one cruiser 24-7, taking sick days, vacations, mandatory training and other forms of leave into account.
West district includes St. James, part of the West End, Charleswood, River Heights, Osborne Village, neighbourhoods along Pembina Highway and the newer Waverley West development.
The district’s population grew by more than 26 per cent, to 193,025, between the 2001 and 2021 federal censuses, police said. Figures for 2026 are not yet available.
Waverley West, in the city’s southwest corner, alone had a population of about 55,000 in 2021, rivalling that of Brandon. A recent City of Winnipeg report said Waverley West’s population climbed to 70,894 in 2024.
Nearly 200 kilometres of new road has been built in west district since 2000, Waddell noted.
“West district was the obvious choice (for an additional cruiser), just based on our call volume.”
“We are hoping to eliminate the amount of driving time we have by keeping officers situated in certain areas within west district so that we can actually get to the caller quicker and provide better service,” he said.
City-wide, the average number of calls for service the WPS receives per day climbed to more than 2,000 this decade, with well-being checks and domestic incidents among the most common situations.
West district has the highest proportion of overall Criminal Code offences among the four districts (31.2 per cent), while it ranks second for overall dispatched incidents in the city (25 per cent), police said. The proportions exclude a small number of calls or crimes, such as cybercrimes or fraud, where no district location is recorded.
The total number of crimes reported in the district decreased by 2.4 per cent in 2025 compared with 2024, but was 2.2 per cent higher than the three-year average.
The district has one of the largest retail footprints in the city.
“With that comes a lot of theft, etc. I definitely don’t want to diminish theft because theft really leads us to violent crime,” Waddell said. “These people or individuals are stealing to turn it into cash, then they buy their drugs, and now they’re committing violent crime.”
The Winnipeg Police Association, which represents the city’s sworn officers and civilian staff, has for years advocated for an increase to the minimum number of cruisers.
“We are hoping to eliminate the amount of driving time we have by keeping officers situated in certain areas within west district so that we can actually get to the caller quicker.”
“Obviously, we welcome any additional resources, but I would propose that we are still short dozens of officers necessary just to manage the calls for service and the increasing demand,” president Cory Wiles wrote in an email.
“Adding to the concern, the increased ratio of high-priority calls that include weapons and violence. Both the volume and violence certainly has an effect on our officers on the front lines.”
About one-quarter of the city’s 2026 budget is spent on police ($370.4 million). Some organizations, in response to police funding hikes, have called on the city and other governments to spend more on poverty reduction efforts in a bid to reduce crime.
While lobbying for additional government funding in the past, the WPS has said the number of officers failed to keep up with population growth this century.
The service had 1,425 police officers in 2025 — 35 more than the previous year, which increased Winnipeg’s officer-to-population, or “cop to pop,” ratio for the first time since 2013.
Per 100,000 people, the city employed 166.8 officers in 2025, compared with 210.4 in 2013, the WPS latest annual report says.
University of Manitoba criminologist Frank Cormier said police services often use officer-to-population ratios to justify the need for additional funding.
“There’s never any kind of a correlation that we can find there,” he said of ratios and crime rates.
“I would like to see additional cars in neighbourhoods, not just within west district but all of Winnipeg.”
Coun. Evan Duncan, whose Charleswood-Tuxedo-Westwood ward is in west district, welcomed the additional cruiser.
“It in part addresses the needs of west district,” said Duncan, a police board member. “If you look at the map, these officers on general patrol are running all the way from Keewatin (Street) down to the south Perimeter (Highway), at most points for some form of crisis or another.”
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He believes the expansion will be well-received by residents.
“I would like to see additional cars in neighbourhoods, not just within west district but all of Winnipeg to ensure that Winnipeggers, when they call for help, they know that WPS members are coming,” Duncan said.
Winnipeg is growing, and police resources need to grow with it, Mayor Scott Gillingham said in a statement.
“West Winnipeg, especially the southwest, has been one of the fastest-growing parts of our city,” he said. “Adding more officers and another cruiser will help make sure residents in that area continue to get the police response they need.”
chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca
Chris Kitching is a general assignment reporter at the Free Press. He began his newspaper career in 2001, with stops in Winnipeg, Toronto and London, England, along the way. After returning to Winnipeg, he joined the Free Press in 2021, and now covers a little bit of everything for the newspaper. Read more about Chris.
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