New Winnipeg-based lab aims to speed up tracing, ballistic imaging of crime guns

Manitoba is establishing a new lab to trace illegal guns and provide ballistic and forensic evidence, and the province says it will have a big impact on criminal activity.

There is a direct link between illegal guns and organized gangs, violent crime and the drug trade, Justice Minister Kelvin Goertzen said at a news conference Thursday morning.

"Guns are the currency … drug traffickers trade in," he said.

"This lab will play a very important role in supporting the firearm-related criminal investigations throughout Manitoba … and ultimately reduce the use of illegal firearms and gun violence in the province."

The crime-gun lab will be created with an initial $5.2 million and then get an annual operating budget of $3.1 million, Goertzen said.

It will be based in the Winnipeg Police Service headquarters, staffed by about 20 people and used by law enforcement agencies across Manitoba, which will be able to share intelligence.

The current process for processing ballistic evidence varies among police agencies in Manitoba. It can take several months to get it done at the RCMP's National Forensic Laboratory Service (which has sites in Ottawa, Edmonton and Surrey, B.C.), hindering timely investigations, Goertzen said.

"While the Winnipeg Police Service has the most efficient process, ballistic leads can still take several days to process," he said.

"By establishing our own crime-gun lab in Manitoba, our province is strengthening the existing capacities to target, to investigate and to prosecute criminal activities involving gangs, guns and organized crime."

The lab will allow comprehensive analysis and archiving of crime guns within the province, which will be instrumental in enhancing intelligence co-ordination around firearm trafficking, he said.

"It will also increase the number of firearms investigations and prosecutions, allowing us to hold those responsible for these crimes and bring them to accountability."

Goertzen touted the move as part of the province's recent tough-on-crime announcements, which include tighter supervision of people on bail, a new multi-agency integrated violent offender apprehension unit and a $10-million package to boost surveillance and safety in downtown Winnipeg.

In 2021, the Winnipeg Police Service seized 856 crime-related guns, while the service's firearms investigation and analysis section processed 764 crime guns in 2022, said Insp. Elton Hall, who leads Winnipeg's organized crime division. 

The Winnipeg Police Service's firearms investigation and analysis section will become the provincial firearms examination centre.

Once the transition is complete, which Hall anticipates will take a year, he expects the new lab to be able to process 2,500 crime guns annually.

"The creation of a new crime-gun lab in Manitoba is going to make a substantial difference for officers across this province, as it will speed up the process significantly and help them get the evidence they need to lay the appropriate charges," Central Plains RCMP Insp. Paul Peddle said.

"We need to continue to do everything we can to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and to ensure they are quickly held to account when they do make the decision to use a firearm in the commission of an offence. The crime-gun lab is an important step forward."

Before the Winnipeg Police Service created its firearms analysis section, it took about a year to get lab results back from the federal lab.

That time frame dropped to less than a week once the in-house examiners were added. With the addition of the new lab, more equipment and examiners, results should be available within hours, Hall said.

"So it's really significant, especially when you're talking about a homicide investigation or multiple shootings. You now  [will be able to] link crime scenes, you'll link potential suspects."

Winnipeg criminal defence lawyer Joshua Rogala says the faster processing times could be good for his clients, particularly those being held in pre-trial custody.

"I think this will drastically, drastically reduce delays in of firearm analysis," he said.

"I would say as a criminal defence lawyer … we want these things to be done in a timely fashion so that we're able to proceed forward with the case as quickly as we can."

It could also lead police to test more firearms, potentially leading investigators to making more connections between seized firearms and other crimes," Rogala said.

"Oftentimes, the prosecutors will not have even made the request for the firearms to be forensically tested or examined unless the case is going to be set to trial, and that just simply demonstrates that there is currently a lack of resources."