Crime dominates discussion during candidate’s forum

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This article was published 20/09/2022 (780 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A St. James resident whose car was stolen out of her driveway this summer. A woman from Weston whose concerns about arson reached a new level when a vacant home on her street burned down and several animals were found dead inside it. A police officer who works at a North End unit that has seized 13 firearms since the week began.

Those three Winnipeggers were among a crowd of roughly 20 in attendance at a community meeting to press mayoral candidate Kevin Klein on his platform on Wednesday evening. Crime of all kinds dominated the discussion.

“I’ve noticed a big leap in crime,” Elise denHeyer told a reporter when asked about what brought her to the event at the Philippine Canadian Centre of Manitoba. In addition to denHeyer’s car being stolen in July, her house in St. James was also recently broken into.

The current city councillor for Charleswood spoke at length about his intention to “let the police do the job they have to do” and his plans to better use police resources, should he win the Oct. 26 election.

“I don’t have all the answers, but I know how to get the right people in the room to find the right answers. I know how to engage people as a team. I know how to engage people to feel a part of something, which we don’t have a part of city hall right now. I also understand, because of my childhood and such, what it’s like to be a victim of crime,” Klein said, in reference to the murder of his mother by her husband.

The candidate noted there are 28 patrol cars on the streets today, the same number that surveilled the city in 2000 — and officers staffing these vehicles can be held up at hospitals for hours if they must accompany someone in custody who requires care.

“Police officers are not trying to not respond to calls. They want to respond to calls. They want to do their job, but if we’re tying them up at hospitals, we’re not using our resources effectively,” he said.

If elected mayor, Klein said there will be a sheriff or another qualified individual assigned to hospitals who can look after someone who is being detained while they are in the facility, in turn ensuring police can get back on the streets.

The mayoral hopeful also reiterated his campaign promise to redeploy some officers working inside stations to work on Winnipeg Transit buses to deter violence.

Klein touted the Alternative Response to Citizens in Crisis program, known as ARCC, as a way to address root problems of violence. He pledged to invest in the program, which currently sees police and social workers partner in response to crises, and allow other mental health workers to serve in the latter’s current role.

Maria Fernandes said Klein is on her short-list of mayoral candidates.

“I’ve been humming and hawing about selecting the one I’m going to vote for,” said the Weston resident, adding she wants to vote for someone who is both personable and has good policy ideas.

The most pressing issues for Fernandes include a rise in petty theft and a growing number of vacant and derelict buildings in Weston, along with the absence of a time limit on how long such facilities can be boarded up and the red-tape required for demolition.

On the latter subject, Klein said he wants to send owners of vacant properties a hefty bill every time emergency responders must be deployed to their land and streamline the demolition process so it will take 90 days or less to obtain a permit.

The councillor noted he previously proposed the city put fees on vacant properties that would escalate every year, “making it horribly expensive to keep a property vacant,” but his colleagues on city council did not support the pitch.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca

Maggie Macintosh
Reporter

Maggie Macintosh reports on education for the Winnipeg Free Press. Funding for the Free Press education reporter comes from the Government of Canada through the Local Journalism Initiative.

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