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MIKE DEAL \/ FREE PRESS<\/p>\n
Winnipeg Police Service Insp. Max Waddell, west district commander, says the district was the \u2018obvious choice\u2019 for an additional cruiser.<\/p>\n
\u201cAdding one more is definitely going to assist us in managing our calls for service.\u201d<\/p>\n
The current city-wide minimum is 28 cruisers per shift or seven per district. West district\u2019s eighth cruiser, which was scheduled to hit the road at 7 a.m., will raise the overall complement to 29.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The district\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
Waverley West, in the city\u2019s 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\u2019s population climbed to 70,894 in 2024.<\/p>\n
Nearly 200 kilometres of new road has been built in west district since 2000, Waddell noted.<\/p>\n
\u201cWest district was the obvious choice (for an additional cruiser), just based on our call volume.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe 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,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The district has one of the largest retail footprints in the city.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith that comes a lot of theft, etc. I definitely don\u2019t want to diminish theft because theft really leads us to violent crime,\u201d Waddell said. \u201cThese people or individuals are stealing to turn it into cash, then they buy their drugs, and now they\u2019re committing violent crime.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Winnipeg Police Association, which represents the city\u2019s sworn officers and civilian staff, has for years advocated for an increase to the minimum number of cruisers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, 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,\u201d president Cory Wiles wrote in an email.<\/p>\n
\u201cAdding 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
About one-quarter of the city\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The service had 1,425 police officers in 2025 \u2014 35 more than the previous year, which increased Winnipeg\u2019s officer-to-population, or \u201ccop to pop,\u201d ratio for the first time since 2013.<\/p>\n
Per 100,000 people, the city employed 166.8 officers in 2025, compared with 210.4 in 2013, the WPS latest annual report says.<\/p>\n
University of Manitoba criminologist Frank Cormier said police services often use officer-to-population ratios to justify the need for additional funding.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s never any kind of a correlation that we can find there,\u201d he said of ratios and crime rates.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would like to see additional cars in neighbourhoods, not just within west district but all of Winnipeg.\u201d<\/p>\n
Coun. Evan Duncan, whose Charleswood-Tuxedo-Westwood ward is in west district, welcomed the additional cruiser.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt in part addresses the needs of west district,\u201d said Duncan, a police board member. \u201cIf 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
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He believes the expansion will be well-received by residents.<\/p>\n
\u201cI 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,\u201d Duncan said.<\/p>\n
Winnipeg is growing, and police resources need to grow with it, Mayor Scott Gillingham said in a statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cWest Winnipeg, especially the southwest, has been one of the fastest-growing parts of our city,\u201d he said. \u201cAdding more officers and another cruiser will help make sure residents in that area continue to get the police response they need.\u201d<\/p>\n
chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca<\/p>\n
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Chris Kitching 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<\/a>.<\/p>\n Every piece of reporting Chris produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print \u2014 part of the Free Press\u2018s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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