Osborne Village crackdown and arrests prove more police work

An initiative in Osborne Village has done what years of debate, slogans, and social media campaigns could not. It proved, with hard numbers, that when you put more police officers on the ground, crime drops. The Osborne Village Violent Crime Initiative, launched July 24, redirected officers—both uniformed and plainclothes—into the neighbourhood. Since then, police have made 146 arrests. That is not an opinion or theory. That is the outcome of visibility, presence, and enforcement.

For a decade, we’ve been told by small but loud groups that policing is the problem. “Defund the police,” they chanted. “We need to address root causes,” they repeated, as if saying the phrase enough times would make it a solution. Meanwhile, violent crime spread across our communities, businesses closed their doors, and residents grew afraid of walking in areas they once considered safe. Osborne Village was a case study in decline, its reputation for nightlife and community spirit overshadowed by violent incidents, open drug use, and repeat offenders.

The facts now speak louder than the slogans. You can reduce crime when you make law enforcement visible and consistent. The initiative in Osborne Village is proof.

Even Premier Wab Kinew’s government knows this, though they will not say it outright. Look at their response to rising violence at the Health Sciences Centre. They announced police officers will be stationed in the emergency room 24 hours a day, seven days a week. That is not a community safety officer. That is not another layer of bureaucratic oversight. That is law enforcement on the ground, exactly where it is needed. The government has effectively admitted what they and others on the left have spent years denying—police presence works.

None of this means we should ignore root causes. Of course poverty, addiction, and mental health require serious attention. But we cannot keep fooling ourselves into believing that solving those long-term challenges eliminates the immediate need for public safety. A violent assault is not prevented by a strategy paper. A stabbing is not stopped by a committee report. A woman being chased down the street does not benefit from a city council debate on “root causes.” In those moments, and in the hundreds of moments like them happening every day in Winnipeg, the only thing that matters is whether law enforcement is there.

The Osborne Village initiative is not the first time we’ve seen evidence like this. In New York City during the 1990s, then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Police Commissioner Bill Bratton focused on broken windows policing and visible patrols. Crime rates dropped across the board. In London, England, targeted operations to flood high-crime neighborhoods with officers led to measurable reductions in assaults and robberies. The same has been shown in Canadian cities. A Statistics Canada study found that higher levels of visible policing in specific neighborhoods correspond with immediate drops in reported violent crime.

Here in Winnipeg, it is no different. The Winnipeg Police Service has struggled with resources for years, all while calls for service and violent incidents continue to climb. According to police data, violent crime rose by more than 20 percent in 2023 compared to pre-pandemic levels. Carjackings, stabbings, and assaults became routine news. Yet council after council, mayor after mayor, resisted adding resources to the service, and in some cases actively cut or redirected them. They were swayed by activist campaigns calling for defunding or “reallocation” to other departments. Meanwhile, frontline officers stretched thinner and thinner, responding to more calls with fewer resources.

Bail reform is another piece of this puzzle. Too often, violent offenders are arrested only to be released the same day, returning to the same neighbourhoods and committing the same crimes. The Osborne Village initiative caught offenders breaching bail conditions. That tells you two things: first, that repeat offenders are a serious problem, and second, that without visible enforcement, those breaches go unchecked. Bail reform is needed. But even if the laws change tomorrow, it will not erase crime. You still need officers on the ground to enforce those bail conditions and protect the public.

Those who continue to push the “less policing” argument are ignoring reality. If their theories were right, Osborne Village would not have seen 146 arrests in a matter of weeks. If less law enforcement created safer neighbourhoods, then areas with the lowest police presence would be the safest. They are not. It is the opposite. More officers mean more deterrence, more arrests, and fewer violent incidents.

What business leaders know, and what families know, is that safety comes first. Investors will not build in neighbourhoods where their employees feel unsafe walking to their cars. Parents will not take their kids to a community event if they fear violence in the streets. A city without visible, effective law enforcement is a city without confidence. And once confidence is gone, economic growth follows it out the door.

Winnipeg cannot afford to keep experimenting with social theories that collapse when tested in real life. We cannot keep sending our officers into a fight with one hand tied behind their backs. It is time to recognize what works, fund it properly, and stop apologizing for it.

The Osborne Village initiative should not be a temporary measure. It should be the model. Target high-crime areas with concentrated, visible enforcement. Make it clear that Winnipeg is not a free-for-all for criminals, that breaches of bail will be enforced, and that violent crime will be met with immediate consequences.

We also have to be honest about priorities. Every dollar spent on another “safety committee” or “awareness campaign” that does not result in boots on the ground is a dollar wasted. The city’s own budget figures show $51.8 million in efficiency targets, much of it pulled from vacancy management and debt deferrals. If we can manage to find millions in accounting maneuvers, we can find the money to put more officers where they are needed.

What happened in Osborne Village is not a fluke. It is not a coincidence. It is the result of a deliberate decision to prioritize safety by increasing enforcement. We should stop pretending otherwise. The evidence is in.

More police on the ground reduces crime. Period.