The Downtown Business Improvement Zone (BIZ) Outreach Program, a group that was created to deal with public intoxication in downtown Winnipeg since 2006, may be coming to an end.

Stefano Grande, the executive director for the Downtown BIZ, confirmed Wednesday that the BIZ is working to transfer the Outreach Program to the Winnipeg Police Service Auxiliary Force Cadets by January 2012.

If this deal goes through, the BIZ will be putting an estimated $100,000 into funding the Cadets program, according to a BIZ press release from March of this year.

Created in fall of 2010, the Cadets program has nearly 50 cadets on city streets.

Inspector Jim Poole of the Winnipeg Police Service said the Cadets’ powers include protecting crime scenes, directing traffic and detaining publicly intoxicated individuals.

Although cadets are equipped with handcuffs, batons and pepper spray, they are intended to be peace officers, and must call in police when situations get violent, Poole said.

Grande maintains that the Outreach Program was never meant to be a permanent solution. The BIZ will be happy to transfer the program to the Cadets, on the condition that 10 new cadets are hired to cover the downtown area and assist in detaining intoxicated persons, he said.

Grande expects to see the cadets involved in community service to the same extent as the Outreach Program is now.

“They need to go beyond just getting people off the street through arrest. They need to create relationships ... the way we’ve been attempting to do,” Grande said.

Poole was hesitant to confirm that Grande’s demands will be met, stating that the cadets will be less involved in the outreach and social activism than the Outreach Program.

Police are hoping to see the increase in numbers that Grande wants, and plans to have a class of 30 new cadets trained by spring of 2012.

However, the uncertain future of the outreach program has left residents of the downtown area worried. Barb and Larry, two participants of an inner-city employment preparation program, who asked that their last names be withheld, were unhappy to hear the program may be dissolved.

“When something bad happens, you’ll see the Outreach, then the Cadets,” Larry said. “They’re an unbelievable team that work with each other and work off each other.”

Barb explained that she used to feel unsafe in the downtown area where she lives, and was once attacked in Central Park. With the Outreach Program and the cadets, she feels safe to go outside.

“The cadets have a little bit more authority, and people realize that they can’t mess around with these guys the same as the Outreach. But, I don’t think that (the Outreach) should be cancelled. You need all of them,” she said.

The Cadets will receive funding from the city and provincial governments.

Justice Minister Andrew Swan could not clarify how much provincial funding will be going to the program, but said the province is “very pleased” to partner with the Cadets.

Published in Volume 66, Number 3 of The Uniter (September 15, 2011)