Overview

• Winnipeg police released images and asked the public to help identify individuals tied to two retail assaults, including a July 27 shoplifting where an employee was hit with bear spray and an Aug. 31 unprovoked attack on Ellice.
• Multiple recent blazes in Winnipeg, including three in the Exchange District, have been deemed arson, and the WPS Major Crimes Unit is investigating with no confirmed links between the fires.
• Calls to reinstate the Arson Strike Force have grown from firefighters and community advocates, citing the multi‑agency unit’s 1999 launch and a 38% first‑year reduction in arson before it was phased out over a decade ago.
• Police Chief Gene Bowers defended a court‑approved warrant used to investigate crime in a South Point Douglas encampment, stating Inspector Helen Peters’ team followed the law and distinguishing the action from the R v Picard scenario.
• A 21‑year‑old woman was arrested Sept. 4 in Winnipeg and charged after a relative was allegedly pushed from a second‑storey ledge in June and assaulted again Sept. 3 with crutches on Selkirk Avenue, leaving the victim with serious injuries.