Winnipeg police to assist with firearms crime investigations across Manitoba with expanded gun lab

CBC News

· Posted: May 16, 2025 5:07 PM EDT | Last Updated: 3 minutes ago

The Winnipeg Police Service says it is expanding its firearms investigation portion to assistance constabulary services crossed Manitoba with weapon transgression investigations.

Winnipeg's existing firearms investigative investigation conception laboratory hopes to statesman receiving firearms from crossed Manitoba by the extremity of the year, Deputy Chief Cam Mackid said astatine a quality league connected Friday. 

The state is spending $3.2 cardinal per twelvemonth connected the project, with an further $442,000 to renovate the existing firearms investigative investigation conception laboratory astatine the constabulary service's headquarters, adding caller equipment, infrastructure and staff. 

A provincial spokesperson told CBC News the enlargement volition yet found a firearms laboratory successful its ain building.

The timeline to found the stand-alone weapon laboratory is yet to beryllium determined, the spokesperson said. The determination and full outgo is chartless astatine this time. 

This announcement comes astir 2 years aft the erstwhile Progressive Conservative authorities committed an archetypal $5.2 cardinal to found a provincial weapon laboratory headquartered astatine the Winnipeg Police Service, with an yearly operating fund of $3.1 million. 

CBC News reached retired to the state to clarify whether Friday's announcement is simply a recommitment oregon caller funding, but hadn't received a effect by 4 p.m. Friday.

Mackid, who oversees the constabulary force's homicide portion and its drugs and gangs unit, said helium sees the interaction of weapon unit "on a regular basis," arsenic a 3rd of each homicides successful the metropolis were related to firearms. 

"As an researcher successful the large crimes portion for galore years, I've personally seen innocent, hard-working citizens suffer their lives to weapon violence, done senseless robberies and different crimes," Mackid said. 

Last year, Winnipeg constabulary received 2,600 firearms-related calls for work and seized more than 1,400 guns — astir fractional of which were "crime guns," Mackid said, oregon guns straight linked to crime, specified arsenic robberies, shootings and homicides. 

Since 2020, Winnipeg constabulary person utilized the integrated ballistic recognition work to process images of utilized ammunition casings. 

Mackid said these casings are "much similar fingerprints" and tin beryllium utilized to link a azygous firearm to aggregate crimes done the Canadian Integrated Ballistic Identification Network, a Canada-wide database that stores integer images of expended cartridge casings.

Having in-house entree to this strategy has reduced hold times for results from a twelvemonth to little than 3 days, Mackid said.

Before this, cases ran the hazard of moving cold, arsenic requests had to beryllium sent to the RCMP's nationalist forensic laboratory service, which is "very backed up" with these types of investigations, Mackid said. 

"If it comes successful a time oregon 3 days aft the fact, we tin pass with our partners successful antithetic jurisdictions and deed the crushed moving and marque those links precise quickly," Mackid said. 

Other Canadian municipal constabulary forces, including Saskatoon and Edmonton, person announced akin weapon labs to service their respective provinces. 

With the caller funding, Winnipeg constabulary volition person and process spent cartridge casings for each provincial weapon crimes investigations from constabulary services crossed Manitoba. 

Police said they anticipation the displacement volition lessen strain connected the RCMP's forensic laboratory service and marque investigations successful the state much efficient. 

The Brandon Police Service said it "fully supports" expanding Winnipeg's firearms investigation laboratory to service forces crossed Manitoba. 

"Tackling amerciable firearms and reducing weapon unit is simply a shared priority, and we powerfully invited the province's concern successful enhancing nationalist safety," Brandon constabulary Chief Tyler Bates said successful a connection to CBC News Friday. 

"We expect this inaugural volition person a affirmative interaction connected addressing transgression enactment and improving investigative processes crossed Manitoba, including close present successful Brandon," Bates said. 

Justice Minister Matt Wiebe said the provincial authorities is "committed to ending weapon violence" and the recently announced funding volition assistance them get there. 

"I privation to nonstop a connection to those weapon criminals, whether you're trafficking successful amerciable firearms oregon you're utilizing guns to harm our communities, we volition find you, we volition prosecute you and we volition marque a quality connected nationalist information successful our province."