Mayoral candidate Motkaluk wants to free up front-line police officers

Mayoral candidate Jenny Motkaluksays if she's elected this fall, she wouldfind ways to free up more police officers are to respond to calls.

The business-development consultant pledged Wednesday to create a committeetasked with "the legal, resource and contractual barriers" that prevent the Winnipeg Police Service fromdeploying more officers to the front lines on any given day or shift.

Motkaluk's proposed "joint deployment barriers task force" would bring together the Winnipeg Police Service, Winnipeg Police Board, Winnipeg Police Association and the province to see how police can stage holiday time differently, hand over more duties to civilians and be freed up from some hospital commitments,she said in the courtyard at city hall.

"On Canada Daythere were seven police cars parked in front of HSC emergency. So presumably, that's 14 officers parked at HSCwho were not available on the streets of Winnipeg on a very busy holiday," she said.

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Motkaluk says the committee could be struck without incurring any additional costs to the city. She says she came up with the idea with the help of the Winnipeg Police Association, but added there are no guarantees the police union would alter its collective bargaining agreement with the city.

The task-force pledge wasthe second police-related campaign pledge made by Motkaluk, who has been the most active of the six candidates seeking to unseat Brian Bowman in October.

In June, at a news conference attended by police- association president Moe Sabiurin and former Winnipeg police chief Devon Clunis, she pledged to double the number of school resource officers, at an annual cost of $2.7 million.

Asked about Motkaluk's latest pledge, Bowman said his campaign is free of influence from "special interest groups." He suggested those groups include theWinnipeg Police Association, but stopped shy of naming the union.