Norwood community members share concerns about property crime, meth

Concerns over rising property crime rates in the Norwood neighbourhood drew dozens of people out to a community safety meeting Tuesday night.

They packed a room at the Norwood Community Centre to hear community safety tips from the Winnipeg Police Service and share their stories of crime in their neighbourhood.

St. Boniface Coun. Matt Allard organized the meeting after hearing from frustrated residents, as well as the release of new crime statistics in the area.

"They showed an obvious increase in property crime in the Norwood West community," said Allard.

According to the Winnipeg Police Service Crime Maps website, property crimes in Norwood West dropped by 12 per cent in 2016, but sharply increased by 60 per cent in 2017.

In 2018, property crimes in Norwood West nearly doubled, going up 90 per cent from the year before.

The rise of meth use in Winnipeg was frequently singled out at the meetingas the reason behind the increase in crime.

"We'd seen a decrease in crime, especially property crime, in recent years, and then meth came along and we're seeing a reversal of that trend," said Allard.

'A ton of break-ins'

The crime spike has residents like John Witwicki concerned.

"There's been a ton of break-ins. In the last probably eight or so months, there's been everybody's windows being smashed," he said.

Witwicki came to the meeting to hear potential solutions to the problem. Police officers are doing what they can but they are "stretched to the max," said Witwicki.

"At this point it looks like it's up to the neighbourhoods to do a neighbourhood watch," he said. "Marion Willis [of St. Boniface Street Links] was talking about a bike patrol and increasing that. If it means that we have to have a bigger presence, then that's what needs to be done."

Several people in the audience called for more action from all levels of government to deal with the meth crisis.

"I hear a lot of talk about it and the problems, and that it's happening, but we're not really hearing exactly when and what will happen with action to kind of reduce that," said Donna Dixon.

Report the small stuff, police say

Const. Chika Modozie said police officers are doing what they can, but they need people in the community to be their "eyes and ears."

She encouraged people to report even minor crimes to police, because tracking that data allows police to focus their resources.

"Reporting as something as little as, someone rifled through my car," she said. When officers are out patrolling, they can look at that data and they can increase their presence in the area, she said.

"I can't stress this enough: report, report, report," she said.

Modozie also encouraged people to form Neighbourhood Watch groups and to take simple steps to make their properties less inviting to thieves by installing motion sensor lights, keeping hedges and bushes cut low to improve sightlines, and ensuring windows and doors are locked.

Even with those common-sense suggestions, Allard said the solutions to the current problems are complex and require and "all-hands-on-deck" approach.

"We do need more help from other levels of government, especially the province, which is responsible for health care," he said.