Neighbourhoods in Winnipeg that hope to see a police officer walking the beat may have to wait until next year to see change, police officials told a city committee Monday.

Several parts of the city have seen foot patrols — or beat cops — reduced or eliminated this year.

Several community groups and area business organizations made pleas for the return of foot patrols at a meeting of the city's protection and community services committee on Monday. 

Groups in the downtown, Osborne Village, Exchange District and Corydon areas have been most vocal in their requests for the return of foot patrols.

Police officials at the meeting said staffing shortages — mainly due to retirements and higher-than-average call volumes — are responsible for the reduction in beat cops as officers are pulled off their beats and put into general patrols.

"There has not been a shift away from foot patrols, notwithstanding the redeployment that can occur to enhance efficiency and effectiveness in service to the public," police officials said in a report presented at Monday's meeting.

Acting police chief Menno Zacharias said the beat cops will return to city streets as soon as the staffing and workload situations allow it.

"This was a stopgap measure, and when we get back up to the point where we have enough officers to staff those positions, we will start doing so as quickly as possible," he said, adding he hoped that would happen by mid-2008.

Dedicated beat patrols currently exist formally only in the police's District 1, which includes downtown, the Exchange District, and the Centennial and West Broadway areas, according to the report.

The rest of the city uses "planned response" officers to patrol in cruisers and take reports of non-urgent crimes, as well as conduct foot patrols "as time and workloads permit," the report said.