News Release - Winnipeg Police Service

Wednesday, April 15, 2015   Opera Shooting   In the early morning hours of May 4th, 2014, a shooting occurred at the Opera Night Club at 441 Main Street.  The Homicide Unit was assigned to investigate the incident.  During the course of their investigation it was determined that staff at the Opera Night Club called the police prior to the shooting and requested that police attend because of an earlier disturbance and fight at the Club.    The call for service was received at 1:42 a.m. requesting a police presence outside the club at closing to prevent a potential breach of the peace. No patrol units were available for dispatch at the time due to high call volumes. The caller was directed to call back if the situation escalated. The call for service that had been entered was later cancelled and no police resources were dispatched to that call.   I was informed of these circumstances by the Homicide Unit Commander on May 6th.  I immediately instructed the Professional Standards Unit to review the circumstances that led to the cancellation of the initial call.  In particular, I wanted to know if the cancellation of the call had any bearing on the shooting.   Based on the findings of the investigation I am satisfied that the cancellation of the call had no bearing on the shooting.  In fact, the cancellation of the initial call and the shooting call both occurred at 1:59 a.m.   The timeline of the event is as follows:   The first 911 call regarding the shooting was taken at 1:59:38 a.m. The call was cancelled at 1:59:45 a.m. – 7 seconds after the first 911 call regarding the shooting.   There were no patrol units available to dispatch for 17 minutes between the initial call and the first 911 call regarding the shooting.    The review has determined that Winnipeg Police personnel followed policy. However since this incident, under the direction of the Deputy Chief of Operations, recommendations have been made, and accepted regarding enhancements to ensure clear guidelines exist for the cancellation of calls for service.   The Winnipeg Police Service received almost 440,000 calls last year. Call management is critical to the effective delivery of service to the citizens of Winnipeg and any change in policy requires a considered review.      Chief Devon Clunis   I encourage you to review the following article to learn more about our review process:   "Why won't you tell us?"       For further information contact either: Constable Jason Michalyshen, Public Information Officer Constable Eric Hofley, Public Information Officer Detective Sergeant Natalie Aitken, Public Information Officer Phone: (204) 986-3061 | Fax: (204) 986-3267 | Email: WPS-PIO@Winnipeg.ca Share this mailing with your social network by clicking on the appropriate link:       Related Winnipeg Police Service Report a Crime Online Crime Stoppers CrimeStat Unsubscribe If you do not want to receive these emails anymore, unsubscribe. Please do not reply to this email. This e-mail was sent from a notification-only address and replies are not monitored. Mailing address: City of Winnipeg, 510 Main Street, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, R3B 1B9 Privacy Statement The City of Winnipeg values your privacy. We do not sell or share your personal information with third parties. You are receiving this email as a result of your signing up for the Winnipeg Police Service Email News list offered on the City of Winnipeg website. You may unsubscribe or change your subscription options at any time.