City, province in the grips of a meth crisis, officials warn By: Ryan Thorpe Posted: 7:00 PM CDT Monday, Jul. 23, 2018 Last Modified: 7:05 PM CDT Monday, Jul. 23, 2018 Updates

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This article was published 22/07/2018 (2302 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg is mired in a meth crisis.

Winnipeg Police Service Chief Danny Smyth — alongside Mayor Brian Bowman — delivered that message Monday where they painted a grim picture of the havoc wreaked by meth in the city’s streets.

The police service had just released its 2017 annual crime stats report, which showed that violent, property and drug crimes are spiking, meth is more easily available and readily consumed, its purity is up and prices down, and police resources are increasingly taxed by social welfare calls.

“This is a community in crisis… In the last couple of years, meth use has increased dramatically here in Winnipeg, and really across Manitoba,” Smyth said.

He said meth, which often has a cartel stamp, is flooding into Manitoba from Mexico, fuelling violent crime and destroying lives, homes and neighbourhoods.

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In 2017, violent crime in Winnipeg jumped seven per cent from 2016 and 10 per cent higher than the five-year average. In addition, the city’s crime-severity index is reaching levels not seen since 2012.

Statistics Canada data released Monday said Manitoba has the highest provincial per capita homicide rate in the country (3.51 per 100,000 residents), and Winnipeg has the highest police-reported violent crime severity index of any city.

Smyth said those statistics are tied to the prevalence of meth in Manitoba.

In 2017, one-third of the city’s 24 homicides were connected to meth, while almost half involved street gangs fighting over drugs, Smyth said.

Property and drug crimes jumped nine per cent and 15 per cent, respectively, and break-ins, home invasions and robberies increased.

Aggravated assaults were up by 42 per cent increase over the city’s five-year average, while robberies increased 21 per cent over 2016. Drug possession charges increased 64 per cent year-over-year and meth-related calls for service spiked nearly 10 times.

“The volume of violent crime went up in virtually every area of the city… Aggravated assaults have gone up in virtually every area of the city. And our robberies have gone up significantly as well, placing us number one in that category in the country,” Smyth said.

“People are stealing things and pawning them to fuel their addictions. Sadly, not a week goes by where I don’t talk to a parent who’s begging me to arrest their kid for meth use because it’s the only way they can access treatment or ensure their safety. This is tragic.”

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In February, Smyth told reporters the meth scourge was so bad it was keeping him up at night. On Monday, he said meth stretches police resources more than other illicit drugs that were popular in the past.

“When we run across people who are demonstrating particularly aggressive or psychotic behaviour, those become very difficult situations to manage,” he said.

Bowman pointed out the police budget has increased every year under his administration and is the largest budget in its history. That, he said, points to the fact this isn’t just a policing issue.

He believes there are gaps in social services for drug addicts, resulting in them taxing police resources that could be put to better use. Smyth echoed those comments.

“We need to find ways to be more efficient in how resources are allocated. Unfortunately, the reality today is that extensive and expensive police resources are being used for non-core police activities,” Bowman said.

“One-half to two-thirds of all calls for police are to deal with families in crisis and individuals struggling with the challenges of mental health, medical and substance abuse. We need to be asking ourselves if police are the right resource to respond.”

The union that represents city police officers issued a release saying crime clearance rates have dropped and budget restrictions have taken a toll.

"When you don’t give frontline police officers the resources needed to do the job, crime is going to go up, period," said Winnipeg Police Association president Moe Sabourin.

The union said tying the police budget to the rate of inflation in the past few years has resulted in the cancellation of cadet classes, less training and fewer officers on the street.

Meantime, data released by Statistics Canada shows the situation in rural Manitoba is worse. The rural crime rate is 42 per cent higher than the urban crime rate, and despite the fact Manitoba only has seven per cent of Canada’s rural population, it accounts for 12 per cent of its rural crime.

Smyth said those figures illustrate that the meth epidemic in Manitoba isn’t confined to Winnipeg.

“Cities and towns across the province are seeing evidence of meth problems,” he said. “It doesn’t take a lot of meth to have an impact on a community.”

ryan.thorpe@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @rk_thorpe

Ryan Thorpe
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Ryan Thorpe likes the pace of daily news, the feeling of a broadsheet in his hands and the stress of never-ending deadlines hanging over his head.

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