The release of the 2018 statistical report has shown a significant increase in property crimes, but violent crime might be the next substantial increase in the city, say police.

Winnipeg Chief of Police Danny Smyth announced today the release of the WPS 2018 statistical report, which evidences the continuing issue of crime in Winnipeg.

A 19 per cent increase was seen in property crime in 2018, with no increase in violent crime noted and a decrease of 13 per cent shown in drug-related crimes.

The high crime rates, says Police Chief Danny Smyth, are "as expected" for this jurisdiction. "Violent crime rates remain high and have not improved in 2018... and things are getting worse."

Despite the maintenance of the rate of violent crime in Winnipeg over the past year, an increase of 18 per cent over the past five years has been recorded, with a 44 per cent increase in property crimes seen as well over the five-year average.

Robberies, including personal and commercial, have increased by about 10 per cent, Smythe notes, with a 45 per cent increase over the last five years.

The startling increase in property crime comes with every category of the crime, with the exception of arson, having risen substantially over the past year.

Smyth says the reason behind the increase is nothing new.

"We are in the midst of a meth crisis," the chief said. "I have consistently described this as a health crisis, and it is, but it is also having an impact on our community in other ways."

The health of the Winnipeg Police Service (WPS) has also been impacted by the crisis, says Smyth, along with that of its community partners.

The Bear Clan Patrol Inc. first began picking up discarded needles on Winnipeg streets in 2017. That year, they collected around 4,000 needles. In 2018, that number rose by 10 per cent to 40,000.

Now, halfway through 2019, Smyth reports that the Bear Clan has already picked up over 60,000 discarded needles, with many more still expected before the years' end.

Smyth also referenced the changes made over the past year to the Millenium Library's security policy in reference to the substantial amount of needles and weapons that were observed being brought into the public space.

An increase of 11 per cent has been noted in calls for service to the WPS communications centre, with over 600,000 calls being triaged and managed by the call centre.

The police chief referred to a large portion of the calls for service received by WPS as "not traditional crime-related calls," but rather requests for inquiry into the wellbeing of individuals and assistance where police and paramedics are being dispatched.

"I've lost a lot of good people in the call centre who have been unable to cope with the tremendous stress that comes from managing that volume of calls," said Smyth.

While 2018 recorded an average number of 22 homicides, Winnipeg has already seen 25 homicides in the current year, Smyth notes, with around one-third of those involving drugs.

It is expected that those rates will contribute to a still-higher rate of violent crime in 2019; so far this year, there have been four police-involved shootings, four in-custody deaths, and one arms stand-off, with nearly all involving drugs.

Smyth continued, saying "Just in the past week, we've had a homicide, a police shooting, an in-custody death, a police vehicle has been stolen, and we had a nasty suicide attempt on a public street where our members were called upon to defuse the situation and administer first aid to a man in crisis."

Seven officers have also been pulled from duty for assessment of their physical and mental well-being following involvement in critical incidents.

"We need some relief sooner than later," Smyth says, calling for the implementation of recent recommendations made by the Illicit Drugs Task Force to be considered. "We need those to be implemented now.

"I understand and I appreciate that addictions treatment is complicated and it's probably pretty expensive, and comprehensive response is going to take some time," said Smyth. "However, in the meantime, the status quo is putting tremendous strain on police and paramedic, and frankly our hospital emergency departments."

The chief requested greater resources in the form of safe shelters and detox units, particularly to assist police in addressing concerns pertaining to Winnipeg's meth crisis.

"I worry about the health and wellbeing of our members."