Do we have the courage to let the police clean up high-crime areas?

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Unless you live in our downtown, you’ve probably become numb to reports of stabbings, shootings, beatings, drug dens, prostitution and fires in vacant buildings.

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If you don’t experience it, you don’t see it and if you don’t see it, you might not think about it unless you see a news story about the latest ugly event in that part of Winnipeg that most Winnipeggers don’t want to be in.

For years, Sel Burrows was the advocate for the Point Douglas area and he continues to speak out for the people of our downtown. He denounces “community centers without programs, drug dealers without a drug tip line, and police patrolling Linden Woods while there are 300 outstanding warrants downtown.”

That doesn’t mean there is no hope. Burrows points to some of the strategies he and others used to solve the problems at Point Douglas that were both cost-effective and downright effective. He says the drunks and drug dealers were driven out of Joe Zukin Park by police with minimal effort, making the park safe again.

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Burrows believes that with three consecutive (at least nominally) conservative mayors, there is little interest at 510 Main Street to address some of the ills of downtown.

Mayor Scott Gillingham disagrees. He states that the city council and the city council are very committed to our city center. He is also confident that the people living in the surrounding neighborhoods are not blind to the struggles of the less wealthy. He states that “most Winnipeggers are compassionate.”

But there is something soul-destroying in allowing rot to persist as if it does not exist. We all lose something of ourselves when our fellow citizens suffer.

The inner city residents who live under the repressive regime of drug dealers and gangs are indeed our fellow citizens. They deserve more than another report from an ineffective social agency that tells us everything we already know.

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None of this is bulletin material. The problems are not unique to Winnipeg either. Every North American city is facing similar crises. You know about it, whether you see it firsthand or not. We are often reminded that poverty is the main culprit, but that is an oversimplification and offends the vast majority of low-income people who live honest lives. They’re just trying to get along, make ends meet and raise decent children in terrible circumstances.

While Gillingham admits there is still much more to be done, there have been some small gains in reducing the number of vacant properties. The Community Safety Team on buses has helped and the Downtown Community Safety Partnership has reduced reliance on fire, paramedic and police resources. It would be unfair to suggest that no efforts are being made.

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But tinkering and half measures will not solve the problem. It’s time for Winnipeg to get serious about ridding itself of the cancer of drug dealers and gangs that plague our city and prey on our youth, especially the newcomers who are particularly vulnerable to the lure of gang life.

If we really want to show that we care about bringing health to the inner city, we have to give the surgeons, the people dressed in blue, the opportunity to cut out the cancer. We have a choice. We can wring our hands over the next report informing us that crime is a problem in our downtown, or we can send the people responsible for law enforcement out to do the things that need to be done. Our fellow citizens are waiting for our answer.

— Geoff Currier is a former broadcaster in Winnipeg.

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