Winnipeg's police service is still mostly male and white. That needs to change, say experts

Despite decades of efforts to recruit more women and racialized officers, the Winnipeg Police Servicehas a long way to go to represent Winnipeg's population.

According to Statistics Canada, 31 per centof people living in Winnipeg's metropolitan area are ethnoculturally diverse (meaning people who are non-Caucasian and non-Indigenous) and another 12 per centare Indigenous.Fifty-one per centare female.

The police service'slast annual reportindicates it hasachieved parity withIndigenous officers, who make up 12 per centof the force, but only8.6 per centof its ranks are racialized, and just 16.2 per centare women.

University of Manitoba criminologist Frank Cormier says to keep Winnipeggers safe, the police service needs more officers who aren't male and white.

"Someone who can understand the person they're trying to helpbecause they have a shared lived experience, they'regoing to be far more effective in trying to help," Cormier said, "and less likely to misunderstand a situationand act in a way that is not warranted."

The Winnipeg Police Service says it's stepping up efforts to recruit more female and racializedcandidatesto better reflect the city's increasingly diverse population.

The WPS is holdingworkshops this spring aimed at attracting diverse recruits, and launched a mentoring unit last year. It says in 2022, its talent acquisition unit helped at least71 female and racialized applicants with things including resum writing and the physical abilities test.

WATCH | A look at why diversity matters at the Winnipeg Police Service

Winnipeg Police Service still struggles to reflect diversity

2 years ago

Duration 2:51

CBC's Emily Brass explains how the ranks of the Winnipeg Police Service remain far from a mirror image of the city's metropolitan population, which is more than half female and nearly one-third racialized groups.

Const. Dale McDonald, who started in 1994, was onlythe second Black female police officer in Winnipeghistory. She saidsheoften ran into sexism out on patrol.

"If it was a male that had called to report something, he would literally look over my shoulder and talk to my male partner, and my partner would be like, 'She's taking the report,'" McDonald recalled.

"But then he would still look over my shoulder and talk to my partner. There is still a little bit of that, but I think that's changed over the years."

McDonald now works on the crime prevention and diversity section of the community support unit, doingoutreach and visiting schools. She says dealing with a Black female constable can make it easier for people from diverse communities to open up.

"Someone who looks like me said, 'Hey, can I talk to you for a minute?'" she said, recalling a recent experience at a Winnipeg school.

"I think just seeing that representation, they felt more comfortable to come talk to me about an issue, and then we were able to discuss it together and try to find a solution."

McDonald says she encountered challenges when she started out. She failed her first attempt at the police training entrance exam, but made the grade after the WPS launched a constable development program in the early '90saimed at recruiting more women and racialized officers.

"Winnipeg Police Service has been trying to promote the diversity within our service for many years," she said.

McDonald admits barriers, such as a lack of transportation to get to class in St. James from the Maples an eight-kilometre hike sometimes felt discouraging.

In her early days as an officer, McDonald says, she was often the only woman on shift in the entire city. Thatput pressure on McDonald to deal with multiple cases involving women, many waiting hours for a female officer to respond.

However,Winnipeg's first Black female officer, retired patrol Sgt. Monica Stothers (now Monica Chertok), encouraged her to stick with it.

"Giving me that positiveness to continue goingand just to be yourself,continue on your path and work hardI really appreciated all the advice."

McDonald says shetries to do the same for younger, diverse women, "because when you don't see yourself, you figure maybe that's not a place for me."

Wait times for calls involving women are far shorter than when she began 28 years ago, she says.

"You might have two female officers working on your shift," McDonald said. "You might see a female in every car."

Even so, McDonald says,only four or five officers in the city are Black women in a force of 1,355 members.

Dire consequences

A lack of diversity on the force could have dire consequences, Cormier warns.

"The least damage is that our police just aren't very good at what we want them to do," the criminology professor said.

"The worst case is that we start to end up in a situation that looks more like the United States, where lives are being lost, innocent people are being killed, simply because our police officers are are not well enough informed and are not reflective of the populations that they serve."

The WPShopes to begin to closethose gaps with atwo-day workshop on April 14-15 for a limited number of potential female recruits. There are also two diversity career workshops on May 18 and 20.