Winnipeg police receive assistance clearing service call backlog

Wait times for police went up Friday due to a hostage situation in St. James.

Winnipeg police needed some extra help after a hostage situation led to a pileup of service calls.

On May 29, police were called to the 400 block of King Edward Street in the St. James area for an armed hostage situation. Art Stannard, a deputy chief with the service, said a total of 77 units responded that day.

“When there’s a high-risk call, an active shooter situation or something like that, we respond, and we respond quickly,” Stannard told reporters Friday.

“Our emergency calls went up by 78 per cent because most of the cars were at that scene.”

By Sunday, the service’s emergency call queue reached a peak of 337 calls waiting.

“In this case, we had to call out quite a number of resources over the weekend to address and get the queue down to a manageable number.”

Stannard said the force received funding for 36 officers to staff two more cruisers last year, but at least 36 more officers are needed to help keep up with the growing city.