Crime and Safety in Winnipeg 2022 Part 3

 

One area of crime that has hit hard these last years is property crime. You only need to have to your car, home or business struck by theft once to feel vulnerable and violated. Some people have had car windows smashed repeatedly or parts stolen, business windows smashed, break and enters and burglaries and it feels like it is endless and unsolvable. Worse, it isn't one area of town. It is everywhere. Plywood signs up all over windows and doors feel apocryphal. More on what helped reduce property crime in the past.

The pandemic, mental health issues, addictions, poverty and an indigenous community still hurting have contributed to the most recent painful period. Even before the pandemic, murder was up big time and amphetamine abuse skyrocketed leading to gang related crime, stabbings and the like. The five year data just released this week reflects that. There are some that blame the present Trudeau government for the rise in crime here. Critics are free to make that argument but their solutions if they solely lay in incarceration might not work if prison time seems more favourable than where they are now in terms of hunger, homelessness, mental health and addictions. 

A safe city is one where you live, work, get educated and seek recreation. If all four of those things are achievable in your community, it is likely to be safer and have less crime. The pandemic and the changes to work patterns for many of operating at home even now has had impacts we are still now coping with it. Some say fall of 2022 will mark a new accelerated return to work and school which will see more people on the streets of communities. Many businesses which closed may now have the customer base to re-open. Many new apartments have also been built including in the downtown area. As a general rule of thumb more people in an area and businesses open can generally create less ideal conditions for property crime or violence. It isn't a complete shield against crime but things are more likely to be reported and faster. The anonymous nature of property crime has to be taken away and that only happens when more people are out and about and report what they see.