When The Hashtag Don't Catch On, What's A Mayor To Do?

Councilor Kevin Klein has hammered the way Mayor Brian Bowman has exploited the "strong mayor" model the City operate under, with relentless challenges to what passes for democracy at Winnipeg's City Hall. The rookie publisher-turned-politician has rattled Bowman so badly, Mayor Selfie tried to mount a hastag campaign to derail his opposition. It failed.  

The unlikely subject of wastewater treatment fully exposed the control the Mayor (one vote) wields through his appointed executive policy committee (six votes) and honorary mayoral stand-ins (two votes) and their secret meetings to steer council agenda's. Klein exposes another wrong-headed policy - and it's not so much the policies as the practices - every week.

Klein made a proposal, with Councilor Shawn Nason, for City staff to test the use of Ferric Chloride to reduce phospherus discharge into Lake Winnipeg. It costs about 1% of the projected treament budget. This idea was from outside the Mayor's circle and so for no apparent logical reason, what seemed like an environmentally responsible testing idea was voted down -- strictly along the lines of Bowman's Bloc of 9. 

But this one didn't fly with large swaths of the community and the heat was so bad, the Mayor had his newly emerged attack dog, Public Works chair Matt Allard, pronounce Klein's motion as "dangerous." When challenged to explain, he wimpily pointed to a statement from fellow EPC Councilor Cindy Gilroy which I read 4 times and still didn't see her point to anything actually dangerous either. 

The "danger" was obviously to Bowman's standing with a lot of his core "progressive" supporters and the only reason for council to split 9-7 on a vote about a commonly used wastewater treatment chemical was to show off their power. Bowman then commenced to snipe on Twitter at Klein, labeling those who opposed his direction as  #CollaborationNotDivision. Which got no traction at all.

Klein released a video explaining what was really going on here:
https://www.facebook.com/KevinKleinwpg/videos/2402748723327749/?t=1

Klein thereafter sent a letter to the Minister of Sustainable Development "requesting the office become engaged with the phosphorus issue at the City of Winnipeg. I will be requesting the Provincial Government officially review the consultant’s report, the supported IISD solution and the City's proposal and timeline as soon as possible."

But between this vote, and Klein's crusade with others (notably Nason and Coun. Janice Lukes) to have a truly fair budget input process involving all council members, the Province should take the hint and get to the root of the problem:

"EPC plus Two Members are not permitted to vote opposed until they properly inform the Mayor in advance. The golden rule that all members must follow is never vote NO to the Budget. Failure to comply will result in termination from the Power Team." Klein explained on Facebook. 

"Have any of the current EPC plus two members ever been responsible for a multi-Million dollar budget? Staff numbers in the hundreds, thousands or higher? Four months to implement a four year budget, is very risky, very risky to taxpayers and our future."

And he also brought up another little-known point: EPC chairs not only get a pay raise, they get control of what is in effect slush money at the Committee level, so wards in the club can get extra's and those on the outs - like North Kildonan, Elmwood and Transcona get no favours. 

That's right, Mayor Collaboration has ZERO representives from the East side of the city in his Bloc. How democratic of him. Klein also said, "I have been told "you don't have enough experience as a Politician to understand why things are done the way they are at City Hall". This is a fact it's been said to me by no less than five fellow members of council." 

The problem is Winnipeg's dysfunction is like an octopus - it touches the water treatment policy and the associated raid on water fee reserve funds while crying poverty to fix the system, the rigged budget process, and is also exposed when Bowman's regime willingly providing free Transit on New Years Eve  but claiming doing so on the federal Election Day - so people can, you know, go VOTE - is too complicated to rush into. And the octopus is spelled E-P-C.

The province has to look deep, deep into what is really wrong, and it's the outdated City Charter. Premier Pallister should restore fairness to the structure of Council and how it does business by eliminating the ability of a mayor to run as his own man, and after the fact rule with a hand-selected, undeclared, political party.

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My breaking story about an RCMP investigation into antisemitic hate crime threats by an Alberta suspect is linked here at TheJ.ca.
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The biggest October blizzard since the 1850's rolled through Manitoba last week and as bad as it was, it could have been a lot worse. Thanks for nuthin', Colorado Low.

In Winnipeg there was less precipitation, and less damage to trees, in the northeast quadrant. But when the heavy wet snow kept coming, the removal of picnic benches from parks was abandoned mid-haul.

In mature neighborhoods like St. Boniface, 4 streets in a row turning south off of Despins were blocked by fallen trees. 

In at least one case, BOTH ends of a back alley were blocked, at one end by a fallen Hydro line repair:

At the other end, a hunk of tree ca-RACKED and drooped (but didn't drop) into the laneway:

                                                                            *****

Investigations, publishing Freedom of Information documents, and standing up for the little guy is what I do.  
I have been covering stories with a citizen journalist approach - holding government and the media to account - for 3 decades. If you are able to donate to support this platform, please go to this page and see how.

If "Crime And Fear" Emerges In The Manitoba Election - It Won't Just Be Campaign Rhetoric

Last summer during the Winnipeg civic election, public safety - particularly downtown and in the adjacent neighborhoods - was an early focus of the Mayoral contest.

"On one issue, however, incumbents and challengers alike seem to strike the same mournful tone: public safety." intoned Winnipeg Free Press political scribe Dan Lett, dismissively noting "The debate on public safety is on the verge of veering into hysteria as we inch toward the Oct. 24 civic election". 

Hysteria. Keep that word in mind.

In an August 18, 2018 column entitled "Campaign rhetoric returns to crime and fear" he noted one candidate, Garth Steek, "claims he’s had his car broken into 10 times in the last two years and that some of his River Heights neighbours have witnessed violent drug deals and assaults in front of their normally placid, well-manicured front yards." 

Considering the area was the first to organize a "Smashed Windows Club" of victims of car break-ins and thefts, that claim of 10 break-ins was hard to doubt, although Lett seemed to.

Citing "A Probe Research poll in late August 2014 showed that only 23 per cent of respondents ranked crime as the most important issue, " Lett believed that in 2018, the public mood had not shifted on the matter enough to elect a law-and-order upstart, the front-runner being Jenny Motkaluk. He was right. 

But if the public had the police data at the time, one wonders if the phrase "hysterical" would have been fair to use or if the Mayoral vote would have tightened. 

A recent Lance story - a Free Press Neighborhood tabloid - about crime rates in St. Boniface contained the bombshell statistics that should have been on the front page of the parent broadsheet.

2018                                 One year increase     Increase since 2014

Property crimes  2,893          55.7%                     92.9%

Violent crimes       385           28.3%                     27.4%

Total crimes         3639          49.6%                     78.2%

I repeat -- "a rise of 92.9 per cent over the five-year average." 

What if voters last year were aware of the true scope of the failure of the police braintrust since 2014 and reacted to that information? Would only 23% have rated it as their most important issue as they did in 2014 ? 

If Jenny Motkaluk and other candidates had assailed a 92.9% increase of St. B. property crimes in 5 years, would she have been 'verging into hysteria'?

Would anyone have dismissed that as "hysterical' that St. Boniface (a tourist/French residential district adjacent to downtown Winnipeg eastbound) was outpacing the city-wide 5 year average (44%) by an extra 48.9% and that it was a crisis? 

 

Not coincidentally, St. Boniface was under siege by meth heads, random violence and aggressive panhandling - and plenty o' dirty needles in parks and alleys, to go with the crime. 

In his analysis, Lett slid through an observation about the meth invasion and straight into a miscalculation about policing. 

"Steek and Motkaluk are motivated, to some extent, by a couple of evolving stories that hit the city just before the unofficial start of civic campaign season. At the top of this list is a pressing concern about what the Winnipeg Police Service has dubbed a methamphetamine crisis."

"The issue (Steek) has obsessed over— property crime — is not affected by the number of police officers you put on the street. You could triple Winnipeg’s complement of officers, and you wouldn’t put a dent in the number of garage, car and house break-ins, particularly if that crime is being driven by an issue as serious and complex as drug addiction."

His miscalculation was in not contemplating the way the police service was supposed to be putting a dent into the property crime rate - without more officers. 

James Jewell explains Solve Rates 

But a former cop recently did the calculation, showing how the consequence of reorganizing criminal investigations in 2017 was a horrific misstep that resulted in a unsolved-crime explosion last year. 

(The decaying clearance rates that resulted further complicated the previous failure by Chief Smyth and others to analyze CrimeStats pro-actively as I explained here, compounded by the flop of "Smart Policing" the successor to CrimeStat under Smyth, as The Black Rod explains here. )  

"In the spring of 2017, the WPS consolidated all criminal investigative services under one umbrella, the Major Crimes Unit." wrote former cop James Jewell on his highly regarded Police Insider blog in a brilliant analysis called  WPS Stock Tumbles – No Time for Blamegame

"... pointing the finger at the Provincial Government is far too easy, so is attributing all of our crime problems to the methamphetamine crisis. No-one can deny the fact crime and addiction are inextricably linked. It’s been that way for decades. The only thing that changes is the drug of choice. What Chief Smyth & Mayor Bowman didn’t talk about were some of the not so complex issues that got us here…"

"... Right or wrong, the courts evolved to a place where much less emphasis is placed on incarcerating property offenders. 

"... In 2018, “lack of consequences” became a major theme at Manitoba Liquor Marts.... Why is the Major Crime Unit investigating theft under offences in the first place?”

[And here Jewell makes the policing point Lett missed last year: a flawed operational structure amplified the drug factors behind the 92.9% hike in property crime in St. B.]

"So how does the WPS Major Crimes Unit become paralyzed investigating hundreds of Liquor Mart thefts? We can’t blame methamphetamine for that, can we?

... Theft under $5,000 is not a “major” crime, in fact, it is very much a minor crime, one that, as I’ve explained, has been very much marginalized...

... What crimes would be a priority for the new “centralized” unit? The answer was obvious, violent crime of course."

Et Voila, as they might say in St. Boniface and other neighborhoods in Winnipeg. Needles needles everywhere thanks to an incompetent and data-challenged harm reduction regime of the WRHA, the needle-using meth addicts running amok thanks to lax court conditions, and a police investigation structure that made the types of crime addicts were committing impossible to assign and clear, letting violent junkies lurking on the streets.  

As a reader said to Jewell in concurrance: 

"I strongly believe his reorganization is a large factor in this. The crime units and CSU units took care of the small guys and prevented them from getting bigger per se. This stifled a lot of crime that we see happening today from ever getting to that point. 

They fed Major Crimes with information and assisted, leaving major crimes to do what they do best. 

This reorganization had made the service lose control."

If candidates in the provincial election this year, armed with the 5 year stats (like "92.9%") that were unavailable for civic hopefuls last year, raise the alarm, no one in the press or political arena could call them hysterical. 

Those crime statistics for St. Boniface are a disgrace. And the fear was legit, given how the area Biz asked City Hall for help to deal with the disorder near the hospital. The fear of being robbed or attacked is noticeable in almost every neighborhood now. 

Last year's civic "hysteria" about meth and crime can turn into this year's legitimate provincial election concerns that voters might direct at the governing Tories (primarily). 

Especially when it comes to spending the $20 million budget they proposed wisely:

1) The CBC Manitoba report on the Safer Streets, Safer Lives platform says that out of the $20M, either $8M total or $15M total (it's hard to decipher) is being alloted to drug policing across the province. 

As Jewell proved, a police organizational failure helped get us in this mess but not a dime seems designated to solving it in the Pallister plan. 

Whatever the additional amount for policing pledged to Winnipeg, voters have a right to ask the PC (and all party) candidates, if they share the public's priority to restoring property crime investigations and achieving respectable clearance rates (thereby boosting morale within the rank and file). 

2)   The 3 page document does not mention or allot a dime to enhance data collection about used needles or raise needle return rates. Big fail. 

My investigative series about the WRHA's flawed free needle program has caused some eyes to open in political cirlces and with good reason.

3) "A re-elected Progressive Conservative government would build a short-term detox facility for methamphetamine users ... A key tenet of the proposal is building a detox facility ... It would treat 20 to 30 patients at a time, for a duration of one to four days." 

Such a facility with that capacity already exists, with detox units. The province is paying the rent to keep it empty until March. It's at 800 Adele Ave. near Notre Dame off Arlington. 

Before spending millions and taking years to build and open a detox and treatment centre, the PC plan - and every parties plan - should include evaluating the Marion Willis proposal for the vacated 800 Adele building to try to get it operational and saving lives now, not in 2 years. 

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Legacy Of CrimeStat Failure May Help Sink Winnipeg Police Chief Danny Smyth

The skids were greased under whoever was going to be Winnipeg's police chief long before the position was awarded Danny Smyth in November 2016. That year, the city rose thru the ranks to lead the Canada Crime Severity Index, so there's the proof. 

But he can't use that as an excuse for long- or at all.

Last week he pointed his finger at the provincial and federal governments for failing to stem the meth tide while warning personnel throughout his department are fading fast and losing hope, in the face of 30-40% increases in serious crime categories since 2014. 

But Smyth made a key PR mistake: he failed to acknowledge that top management over the years - including himself - weren't up to the task of managing a coherent counter-strategy.  

Blaming politicians only goes so far with cops on the beat and victims of crime, I am hearing, when they see a police chief who is failing to lead.

* For years, people who knew the score were calling out how police brass had undermined the CrimeStat formula, which went beyond statistical measurements and into crime analysis if done correctly. Smyth tried to leave that legacy behind and install a new crime-tracking tool:

"Winnipeg police replace CrimeStat with new web tool called CrimeMaps” (CBC Manitoba, March 8 2019)

It would be fair to say that since the change is so recent, there's probably no way to judge any results. However, it is also fair to say, that the failure to operate CrimeStat properly for 12 years had a very bad cumulative affect on policing and public safety. 

It isn't clear how involved Smyth, who was named a superintendent in 2012 and deputy chief in 2015, would have been, but it's overwhelmingly likely he knew what was going on, at the very least. CrimeStat, WPS-version, was full of holes and the public was fed half-truths for years, as were city councilors and the media.

* Deputy Chief Menno Zacharias was a champion of CrimeStat when it was introduced following a campaign pledge by Mayor Sam Katz. Here is part of his explanation of how it could work as a pro-active policing tool:

 specific crime trends can be seen developing in specific areas of the city.  These trends can be nipped in the bud so to speak, largely by identifying and arresting perpetrators.  These preemptive arrests prevent the trend from continuing and reduce the amount of crime.  It’s not the be all and end all but it is a valuable tool. 

Unfortunately he retired after the promotion of Keith McCaskill to top cop, a terrible hiring mistake in retrospect. 

Why? Let's jump for a moment to an answer Danny Smyth gave to a media question last week.

Q: … is the current meth crisis the gravest or most difficult challenge that’s been thrown your way?

A: …. I guess in my time there have been a few things that have been game-changers, certainly when crack was introduced into the community some twenty-five years ago it was a game-changer, gangs were a game-changer, this is the kind of drug that’s been a game-changer as well…

Crack was a game changer ... consider this:

In an exit interview when he retired, McCaskill admitted that he and other senior managers of the police in the 1990’s had underestimated the emergence of crack cocaine and the problems it represented to the city. 

A cop was dismissive of how serious it was that crack was being introduced to the Winnipeg scene in the early 90's? 

He blew the first test of the 3 Smyth described. 

How did someone like that end up in charge?

* Two years later in 2010, cop-turned pundit Zacharias blogged that CrimeStat was a proven winner IF the human element did its part. 

But under McCaskill, execution of that function was abysmal - as per this synopsis:

• All players in the system must understand and execute their roles.
•  Division Commanders must stay on top of crime in their area, identify trends and devise effective tactics to deal with them.
• The Police Executive must be fully engaged and ensure the resource is used as intended."
• The executive of the Winnipeg Police Service does not appear to understand or appreciate the capabilities of Crimestat and that could explain why they have largely turned their backs on it...
• A key aspect of the Crimestat process centers on accountability.
• The Executive needs to hold Division Commanders accountable.
• Accountability is exercised most visibly during Crimestat meetings.
• That cannot happen if the Executive does not attend Crimestat meetings.

Zacharias concluded: "Residents of Winnipeg have a vested interest in the overall safety of all neighbourhoods. Winnipeggers need Crimestat to work."

It didn't. Why? Because "The Police Executive must be fully engaged and ensure the resource is used as intended." and that was the last thing McCaskill wanted.

Because he wasn't a crime fighter, which is what CrimeStat required to deliver results.

* Even after the warnings of Zacharias in 2010, CrimeStat was still being gamed in 2013 - after Devon Clunis took over from McCaskill -  to minimize the impact from criminal activities and violence that Winnipeg residents and businesses were facing.

In a Free Press comments section smackdown of noted downtown cheerleader Brent Bellamy, urban policy analyst  Brian Kelcey admonished him that "comparing Winnipeg to other cities on the basis of in-year crime stat reports is misleading, since Winnipeg underreports crime data in its Crimestat model. This isn't a conspiracy theory about "unreported crimes," despite Bellamy's assumptions to the contrary."

Kelcey, who had been a key figure in the early Katz administration, revealed "Winnipeg's public Crimestat statistics have never, ever reported assaults, non-fatal stabbings, arsons or sexual assaults where the attacker is known to victim, amongst other visible downtown crimes. We only know these figures are unusually high in Winnipeg, and concentrated in the North End and (to a lesser degree) Downtown because of federal crime report data that comes out one or two years later. "

As safety consultant Bob Axford put it, under Chief Clunis, "Crime stat in Winnipeg is now being used for purposes the US model was never designed = that is to avoid transparency and honest management." 

In other words - not a crime fighter.

* In October 2013, the Free Press reported about a review of CrimeStat by Matrix Consulting Services of Texas.  And what did they find?  

- cancelled or shortened weekly CrimeStat meetings, 

- non-regular attendance by the chief or his deputies 

-  limited analysis of statistics and how they impact on the work of general patrol units. 

"It seems that preparation time is limited and focused on 'just' trying to understand the statistical increase 'or' decrease," the review notes. Matrix calls on the WPS to introduce "more formality" to CrimeStat meetings and increase accountability and ownership for police in supervisory roles." ... Katz said he was "extremely disappointed" there is little buy-in to the program among senior police officers."

* So, when did CrimeStat get fixed? Well, according to CBC, not by May 2015, by which time residents of River Heights had started giving up on Chief Clunis and his managers ever getting their area under control - and hinting that maybe a program to put cameras aimed at backlanes would have helped  

Oxford worst-hit street in River Heights crime wave

Crowdsourcing of over 150 incidents paints block-by-block picture of property crime in Winnipeg neighbourhood

... The data also showed that in nearly 75 per cent of cases, the thieves roamed the backlanes, rather than streets. ... Another active member of the Broken Windows Club says these figures do prove the crime wave is affecting all areas of River Heights, but feels it's just the tip of the iceberg. "I know personally for a fact that many more on my street were hit and didn't submit their incidents."

"The true scale of the problem is not fully known by residents, as the police service's CrimeStat website does not track the type of property crime that is wreaking havoc on River Heights residents."

* By the time Smyth - and meth addicted needle-dropping junkies - took over in November 2016, CrimeStat had been a colossal failure as a planning and coping tool. Deliberately sabotaged. It took him over 2 years to finally replace it and hope people forgot.

When Smyth made his PR gambit to get sympathy on the side of cops and civilian staff, he was counting on his own role being glossed over. 

Winnipeggers have seen the deterioration of public safety and order since 2014 - can you imagine that was 'the good old days' when people felt safe compared to now?? Public patience for the social-work approach of the trifecta of recent police chiefs is worn thin. They want results. 

They see a police chief eager to engage politicians whenever he can - that's the easy part -  but if we are leading the country in crime, guess what - we lead the country in crime victims too. Robbery and property crime both up over 40% in 5 years, total crime up 33%. And Danny Smyth offered those crime victims nothing last week- no leadership, no accountability, no hope, just a warning things will get worse. He's no crime fighter.

The Police Service needs a change of attitude, a change of direction, and a change of identifying trends and devising effective tactics. His ability to accomplish what's needed to save our city has to be seriously contemplated by Mayor Brian Bowman and City Hall -- and Smyth should have to make a case to council why he should stay in charge. 

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This week we reached the 20% mark in the quest for 100 supporters at $50 each, who have stepped forward to help fund this crucial period for independent reporting in Winnipeg. 

Some donors have been extraordinarily generous with their kind words and financial vote of confidence - and because of their gestures, my reporting on the meth crisis, crime, politics and the Winnipeg community can continue.

Will you please join them? It only takes a minute to help.

It takes experience in the field, research, resources, and time to compose strong, vibrant citizen journalism. It takes passion and drive and determination.  

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