MAYBE NOW POLICE WILL GET MORE HELP

What Better Time To Ask City Hall For More Money

Yesterday, Winnipeg recorded its 29th and 30th homicides of the year.
Eight people have died this month alone.

The last time the city had so many violent deaths was 1987, also with
30.

That high number means investigators have much time gathering
evidence, identifying those responsible and then trying to arrest them.

"You can only sustain this pace for so long," said Loren Schinkel,
president of the Winnipeg Police Association and a former homicide
investigator.

"You work those horrendous hours and this horrendous pace, it's
possible an error could be made. Then they'll be criticized for it.
"The fact of the matter is they're trying to do the best they can with
what they've been given."

It's not only detectives and forensic investigators putting in long
hours.

Late last week, police raided more than a dozen homes and businesses
around the city in an attempt to disrupt a drug distribution network
run by the Zig Zag Crew, the street enforcers for the Hells Angels.

Thirty-five people were arrested and police seized 1.75 kilograms of
cocaine, six kilograms of marijuana, 150 plants from a grow operation
and small quantities of methamphetamine and ecstasy.

Rooting out

Two days before, police asked for the public's help in rooting out
hydroponic marijuana operations in Winnipeg. An officer said the trend
in the past year is that Asian-based organized crime has the lion's
share of marijuana grow ops in the city, about 45 per cent.

Specifically, of the 87 grow ops shut down this year, those run by
criminals with a Vietnamese background from overseas or other parts of
Canada are the biggest, accounting for about 80 per cent or $18
million of the total $23 million value of marijuana seized.

And more than a month ago, dozens of police officers in Winnipeg and
around the country shut down an alleged multimillion-dollar pipeline
that channelled huge amounts of ephedrine from the city to drug
markets on the West Coast and in the U.S. for the manufacture of the
street drug crystal methamphetamine.

Police have also said it was one of the largest, most sophisticated
drug operations they've uncovered -- all supposedly run out of Winnipeg.

The homicides, the raids on the Zig Zag Crew, the hydroponic marijuana
grow ops in the city and the alleged crystal methamphetamine drug ring
are all unrelated.

But taken together, they put considerable strain on Winnipeg
police.

For example, the year-end overtime bill for officers in the homicide,
gang, drug and identification units will likely be through the roof.
Police had asked city hall for an extra $1.1 million for overtime
costs earlier this year for their 2004 operating budget, but that was
likely blown a long time ago.

Soon, police Chief Jack Ewatski will put the finishing touches on his
wish list for the 2005 budget.

For 2004, he asked for an extra 25 officers and 19 support workers to
help offset the heavy workload his officers were under. His request
was turned down. Ewatski has so far declined to talk about what
additional resources he wants for 2005.

It'll be interesting to see how much 30 homicides, Zig Zag drug raids,
dozens of residential hydroponic marijuana grow ops and the spectre of
a crystal methamphetamine crime ring all play in his sales pitch.