Winnipeg’s next top cop cannot fix city’s problems alone, former chief says

A former chief of the Winnipeg Police Service says the next top cop will lead the force in a “radically different” environment than when he was in the job — and shouldn’t be expected to fix the city’s problems alone.

Devon Clunis, who served as Winnipeg’s police chief from 2012 to 2016, suggests the new head of the police service tackle crime by speaking out about the realities of what officers are seeing to politicians and business leaders.

“It really doesn’t matter who we select as the next chief of police if we expect that it’s going to be magical and that individual is going to solve [all our] problems,” said Clunis, who was Canada’s first Black chief of police.

“We’re setting ourselves up for failure. This is going to require collective effort.”

Clunis says Danny Smyth, who officially retired as police chief last week following seven years in the role, dealt with a “radically different” environment than he did as chief.

LISTEN | ‘Law enforcement will not fix what we’re dealing with,’ former chief says:

The COVID-19 pandemic and mass protests in response to the 2020 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis sowed divisions between communities and police, he said.

“The environment in the last four years, societally speaking, has been very difficult for those who are trying to serve and those who are being served, so we need to get back to the point of just having conversations,” he said.

Emergency service workers faced “a significant amount of trauma” in the wake of the pandemic, and the new chief will have a major role to play in restoring the health of the police service as well as the community, Clunis said.

“What we’re seeing in terms of crime is a deep cry within our community because we’re so disconnected. All these social issues are not being dealt with.”

The new chief needs to focus on rebuilding connection with the community, Clunis said.

“And yes, I would put that task first and foremost in the chief’s lap to say, ‘This is your responsibility.'”

His advice to the person who takes on the role is to listen.

“I would say be humble enough to recognize that there’s no way you can ever know it all, and listen to those with the expertise who are providing you the advice and the evidence in which to make really important and difficult decisions,” he said.

“You can’t come in with your action plan already formulated … because it might not actually be exactly what the citizens or the members need.”

A CBC Manitoba/Probe poll released earlier this month suggested some Winnipeggers want the incoming police chief to focus efforts on downtown safety and petty crime.

Applications for Smyth’s replacement closed last week, and Winnipeg’s police board could name its recommendation for Smyth’s successor to city council as soon as November, said Coun. Markus Chambers, who chairs the police board.

The ideal candidate should have a minimum of 10 years of law enforcement experience, including at least 10 years of senior policing leadership and executive management, says a position profile prepared by MNP, the independent advisory firm helping with the search.

The document says the chief must also be educated in truth and reconciliation, with knowledge of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 94 calls to action and the final report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.

But some say education on Indigenous issues isn’t enough.

Sheila North, a former CBC journalist and the previous grand chief of Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak, says the new police chief should be an Indigenous person who “understands the trauma and the history of Indigenous people, and how Canada came to be what it is.”

“I think that someone needs to have at least that basic quality — if not an Indigenous person … someone that understands and grew up knowing what it’s like to be a minority,” she said.

“Anyone at the head of an organization ultimately sets the tone [and] the culture, so they need to have a strong sense of intolerance against racism, bigotry and dismissiveness of people that are, you know, in the marginalized groups.”

Winnipeg police’s connection with Indigenous people is their “most damaged” relationship, she said.

North had hope in Smyth because he initially had a good relationship with Winnipeg’s Indigenous community, she said.

“I think he listened for a long time, but it was extremely hurtful to see almost a reversal when the landfill issue came up,” she said, referring to Smyth’s refusal to search a Winnipeg-area landfill for the remains of two First Nations women slain by a serial killer in 2022.

Smyth faced calls to resign as chief in late 2022, after he said police were not able to conduct a search of the Prairie Green landfill. A search led by the province, with funding help from the federal government, is now expected to begin next month.

North says Smyth’s stance on a search made her feel “like I was being gaslit.”

Abdi Ahmed, co-chair of the Winnipeg Police Accountability Coalition and executive director of Aurora Therapy Services, says his relationship with Smyth also soured over Smyth’s years as chief.

Ahmed was a part of Umoja — meaning “unity” or “oneness” in Swahili — a community group that formed in 2009 to engage with Winnipeg police and Manitoba RCMP on issues facing newcomers and refugees in the city.

“It ended, because we were not having much results in some systemic changes, especially when [Smyth] came into power,” Ahmed said.

Smyth mostly brought defensiveness to their discussions, he said.

“We decided [about a year ago] that there’s no point in wasting time in meeting with this chief.”

The coalition has had better relations with the police board, which has been receptive to their feedback on the incoming chief, Ahmed said.

He wants a new police chief who can balance the trust of the officers they lead with the trust of the people they serve.

“Someone who values getting trust from the community as being equal to getting trust from [their] own officers, I think it is what we expect.”