Winnipeg mayoral hopeful pledges to cut police workload by contracting out help for repeat 911 callers

Winnipeg mayoral hopeful Shaun Loney says he has a plan to reduce the workload for the Winnipeg Police Service without cutting funds devoted to public safety or providing more money for the police.

Loney, who describes himself as a social entrepreneur, says if he's elected mayor this fall, he would contract out the responsibility for meeting the social-service needs of repeat 911 callers who place the heaviest demands of the police.

Loney says the city could save hundreds of thousands of dollars by giving social-service agencies the opportunity to bid on meeting the mental health, housing and counselling needs of dozens of people who make up a disproportionate number of police dispatches.

"If the police were to say, look, we're expecting to spend $600,000 on these 50 people, and if they were to put that information out and in a public format and invite proposals from the non-profit sector, I think they would be wonderfully surprised," Loney said in an interview.

"I'll even go even further to say that we will pay only on a get-it-done basis, which is really what procurement does."

The 52 year old, who founded the non-profit Building Urban Industries for Local Development and co-founded Aki Energy, said there are a number of cohorts who could be better helped by social service agencies instead of police.

"It could be 50 ex-gang members. It could be 50 lonely seniors that phone 911 looking for a visit. It could be 50 people who are homeless that are struggling with mental health issues," he said.

"The point of the matter is that the police right now have not been given the tool to actually engage the non-profit sector to help them reduce their workload."

In January, the city asked the public to provide feedback about a number of police-funding options. Loney said all of them lack creativity and imagination.

"We've got the whole defund-the-police [idea], which I'm totally opposed to. And then we also have 'Let's just keep funding them.' That's eating into our taxes," he said.  

"I'm coming in with something that's not halfway in between. I'm coming in with a whole new idea."

Police would welcome help: Sabourin

Maurice Sabourin, president of the Winnipeg Police Association, said there is merit to the idea of diverting some high-volume callers to social service agencies. The City of Saskatoon has had some success with this approach, he said, cautioning he still sees many of these calls as police calls.

"I'm in favour of anything that takes stress off our members but doesn't put anyone else in danger," he said. "Some of these mental health calls can turn violent in a short period of time."

Sabourin said police would welcome the help, provided the service is available outside of office hours.

"It's got to be something that's open 24 hours day, seven days a week, because Monday to Friday nine to five doesn't work," he said.

Loney is the first candidate to make a policy announcement. He and other mayoral hopefuls are limited in the way they do this until the end of April.

Mayoral hopefuls may not raise or spend any money on their their campaigns until they formally register as a candidate. The registration period begins May 1.

Nonetheless, Loney declared his candidacy last April to take part in the wide-open race to replace Brian Bowman as Winnipeg's mayor.

River Heights-Fort Garry Coun. John Orlikow declared his candidacy last week, while St. James Coun. Scott Gillingham said last week he will very likely place his name on the ballot.

St. Norbert-Seine River Coun. Markus Chambers, Charleswood-Tuxedo-Westwood Coun. Kevin Klein and 2018 mayoral candidate Jenny Motkaluk said they are considering a mayoral run.

Winnipeggers will elect a new mayor and council on Oct. 26.