Mayor, Police Chief act on City Summit advice
Mayor Katz travels to Ottawa overnight to press City’s case on public safety agenda

MEDIA RELEASE:

WINNIPEG May 17, 2006 - This morning, Winnipeg Mayor Sam Katz responded to the Winnipeg City Summit’s call for a safer downtown and an even stronger commitment to crime reduction. Through a motion at Executive Policy Committee, Katz formally asked Winnipeg Police Service Chief Jack Ewatski to report before July 10th on the adoption of policing best-practices proven to be effective elsewhere in North America. The proposed innovations include:

• The use of COMPSTAT, a statistics-based tool for crime reduction that tracks crime patterns daily and holds police commanders accountable for breaking those patterns;
• “Intelligence-led policing,” or the use of COMPSTAT and other intelligence data to proactively target resources to prevent crime rather than merely respond to it; and
• “Evidence-based policing,” including measurement of police effectiveness based on outcomes [e.g. a lower crime rate] rather than outputs [e.g. arrests or patrol hours].

“This is our first action in response to the Winnipeg City Summit,” Katz said. “While Chief Ewatski and I have discussed the value of COMPSTAT and other innovations for months, the advice I heard from former New York Mayor Giuliani and the strong support Summit delegates had for his message convinced us that City Council must support these innovations now.”

Katz said that he hoped to build on the momentum gained from increasing the size of the Police Service by almost 50 officers in 2006. “Frankly, a true crime prevention strategy wouldn’t be possible without the lessons learned in the permanent ongoing Operation Clean Sweep, increases to the 2006 police budget and the support we’ve received from the provincial government for both. We’ve come a long way since 1999, when Council cancelled an entire recruit class at the Police Academy.”

Meanwhile, Katz will leave for the nation’s capital this afternoon for a round of meetings with federal government officials, including Justice Minister Vic Toews. In Ottawa, the Mayor plans to discuss federal justice promises and policies and their specific impact on Winnipeg’s crime prevention strategy in the coming year.

“Winnipeggers deserve a safe city, and we know the federal government supports us as we ramp up our fight against crime,” said Katz. “Ottawa can help us fight crime in a number of ways, and not all of them cost money,” he said, “which is why I believe it is important for us to discuss the specifics of our situation with federal officials as well as members of Cabinet.”