Book ‘Em, Danno? Not in Winnipeg

Dan Lett’s most recent post touches on the crime debate facing our fair city. Apparently, Winnipeg fares no worse than any other urban centre. The debate is being fueled by “diatribists” (I hope this won’t require any “diaspora”-esque clarifications at a later date) who are merely engaging in histrionic political posturing.

Lett elects to critique the diatribists on their use of anecdotes. His critique is itself unfortunately devoid of any hard data that would effectively refute those apparently embroiled in political gamesmanship (an irony doubtlessly duly noted by a smarty pants wife). I would personally have used per capita auto theft statistics if I were to accuse someone else of posturing. After all, if there truly is no problem then this could surely be corroborated with some effortless number crunching.

Another contention is that those of us concerned with crime suffer from a distinct lack of cosmopolitan experience:
“It’s just immature, and evidence that you haven’t received many stamps in your passport, to try and make anyone believe Winnipeg has a bigger problem than other cities.”
Believe it or not Dan, some of us unwashed masses HAVE traveled and lived outside of the confines of the Perimeter. I felt much safer walking the streets of downtown Toronto in the wee hours of the morning than I do walking the streets of Winnipeg on a warm summer afternoon. The most colourful homeless person I frequently met in Toronto sang a cheery song of “If you’re happy and you know it, spare some change.” Here, the most colourful street people I have encountered were urinating on a luxury car in an Impark lot, urinating on Main Street, accosting my wife on multiple occasions and throwing each other into a plate glass window. The plural of anecdote may not be data but at least my anecdotes are predicated on first-hand experience.

The next major plank in Lett’s argument is that other urban centres have bigger concerns than petty crimes such as auto theft:
“Try and look at this debate through the eyes of residents in other cities. You think anyone in British Columbia watching the Willie Pickton murder trial is worried about the violent crime rate in Winnipeg? You think Torontonians are shocked by the pellet-gun shooting last week in Winnipeg as they watch the trial of a gang of youths responsible for the Boxing Day drive-by shooting murder of teenage girl? And what of Edmontonians — you wonder how much sleep they are losing over the state of our mean streets as they track a serial murderer who could be responsible for as many as a dozen vicious attacks on prostitutes?”
This clever assertion neglects to mention that Dan’s very own Winnipeg Free Press recently featured a story on the unsolved murders of many local sex-trade workers. Does that not constitute a “vicious attack”?

A local radio show (and likely subject of Lett’s post) sought the monetary costs from MPI for car theft and vandalism. If I remember correctly, the total tally came to $59 million. That would be the equivalent of 590 homes for the homeless. It could also pay the annual tuition for the ALL OF the full-time undergraduate students at the University of Manitoba with money to spare. This $59 million does not even include the deductibles paid by the victims or the losses from acts that go unreported.

Dan, maybe we would be able to solve poverty and dysfunction if we weren’t so busy paying for auto repairs. Money is a finite resource – once it is spent, you can’t use it somewhere else. $59 million and counting is one heck of a societal opportunity cost – one well worth acknowledging and eradicating…