On Friday, July 8, 2022, Winnipeg Police Service Chief Danny Smyth addressed recent violent incidents at the Forks in Winnipeg.

Several incidents at the end of June and the first few days of July had Winnipeggers taking to social media complaining about how violent the city has become.

Smyth said at a media conference on Friday that “This is a concern to us, but it is not new to us,” referring to violent crime near the forks. “We’ve had stabbings there before, we’ve had homicides in the vicinity before.”

Violent crime was up five per cent in 2021 over the previous year according to the chief. That increase was driven mostly by assaults involving weapons. In 2021 there were 1,199 incidents involving knives and 470 incidents involving guns.

The chief said that the WPS is working with the Forks to address issues and that foot patrol officers will be making more sweeps through the forks on a daily basis and that additional foot patrol officers will be assigned to the Forks on weekends for the short term.

Smyth said that the police service intend to release its 2021 crime statistics report next week.