POLICE TOUT SPECIAL RAIDS UNIT

When Not On Busts, Members Might Issue Traffic Tickets

CITY police commanders are studying a proposal to create a full-time
tactical unit that would be the first through the door in most drug
raids and takedowns of armed gangsters, according to a report obtained
by the Free Press.

But rather than saddle taxpayers with the high price of training and
outfitting the proposed 32-officer emergency response unit, the
report's authors recommend those officers help pay for the unit
themselves by issuing speeding tickets when they're not busting down
doors.

The 29-page internal report said the estimated cost of a full-time
unit is about $2.5 million a year, but it could be offset by about
$1.5 million in revenue from speeding fines, as long as each officer
writes one ticket per day per five-day shift.

"Traffic enforcement duties could be assigned to the ERU as part of
its mandate," the report says. "Cost recovery is possible by deploying
tactical unit into secondary duties like traffic enforcement when not
involved in tactical operations."

The report, prepared shortly after three police officers were shot and
injured during a drug raid on Jubilee Avenue, also acknowledges that
an ongoing shortage of police officers blocks the creation of a
full-time unit.

"Financial constraints and personnel limitations relative to the
overall WPS complement are the primary obstacles prohibiting the
implementation of a full-time tactical (unit)," the report says.

The report was ordered by retired police chief Jack Ewatski and his
executive, but has sat virtually untouched since February because no
one knows how to stickhandle it through city hall.

Winnipeg currently has a part-time unit of 25 officers who in the past
were called out to arrest dangerous suspects and deal with armed and
barricaded suspects. The officers on the team all have other police
jobs, so they have to scramble quickly to assemble. In many cases now,
officers are called in on days off.

But that all changed last Dec. 7. That's when the three police
officers were shot, one hit by a ricochet from a fellow officer's
firearm. Police re-evaluated how they do business, especially at a
time when they come up against more armed criminals than ever before.

"Police are encountering more firearms during the course of day-to-day
operations," the report says. "Many of the firearms were discovered
during the execution of an arrest and search warrants that did not
have high risks associated to them."

The report said guns were seized in 215 raids in 2006, but the ERU was
involved in only 14 of those raids. Most of the guns seized are from
gang members and drug dealers.

After the Jubilee Avenue raid, police brass made a decision to use ERU
members' skills more often, specifically when there's information a
suspect may be armed. A full-time unit would cover all shifts and be
able to deploy more quickly should they be needed.

The RCMP have their own emergency response team in Manitoba, but they
handle only high-risk incidents in rural and remote areas.

Almost everyone agrees the dedicated unit is needed, but no one knows
how it can become reality.

The big roadblock is staffing. Officers say the police service is so
undermanned at times it's a tough enough job getting enough officers
to meet basic front-line patrol duties.

Only recently has the service eased up on its summer-long cancellation
of discretionary leave -- officers booking extra days off to use up
banked overtime. The decision to cancel time off was made so the
service could meet its minimum requirement of 27 two-officer patrol
cars on the road at all times.

An added pressure is a growing demand for more foot-patrol officers
downtown and in Osborne Village. More beat officers means a shallower
pool of personnel available for a full-time emergency response unit.

Why police want a full-time ERU, and what it would do

THE Winnipeg Police Service's emergency response unit is now called
out routinely to help in potentially dangerous drug raids and other
arrests where guns might be present.

* ERU members are assigned to other duties, but are called out at any
time to help in an arrest or other high-risk situation.

* This raises overtime costs for the police service. These costs mount
each time the ERU is used.

* The service has wanted to create a full-time ERU since 2000, but
year after year it can't because of budgetary and staffing shortages.

* An internal report recommends a full-time, 32-officer unit. When
those officers aren't knocking down doors, the report says they should
be writing speeding tickets so fine revenue can pay for the unit.

* Such a plan is not new. In spring 2006, revenue from an increase in
provincial traffic fines was directed toward the creation and
operation of the city police street-crime unit.

* Police officers of every rank want the full-time emergency response
unit because it would take inexperienced officers out of harm's way.