Vancouver’s mayor and police chief have revealed the details of a new $5 million plan to crack down on gangs and crime in the city’s troubled Downtown Eastside (DTES).
Mayor Ken Sim first announced the plan, with few details, in January as a part of a broader project to reshape the neighbourhood which includes a freeze on new supportive housing.
On Thursday, Sim and Police Chief Adam Palmer announced “Task Force Barrage,” which will see an increased and sustained police focus on the area.
“Right now the City of Vancouver spends about $50 million a year on a small four-square-kilometre area, and that doesn’t even include the policing costs,” Sim said.
“We all see what’s happening on our streets. Repeat offenders, organized shoplifting rings, drug traffickers taking advantage of people struggling with addiction, criminals who profit off human suffering while our most vulnerable pay the price.”
Along with the police plan, Sim said the city has already begun deploying “integrated response teams” that include law enforcement, firefighters, bylaw officers and city engineers that will increase efforts to clear sidewalks and improve sanitation.
Palmer said the police initiative involves a three-pronged strategy.
“Number one will be additional high-visibility officers to reduce street crime and violence, two will be additional complex and coordinated investigations to target gangs and organized crime groups in this area, and three, improved community partnerships to address social needs and improve community safety,” Palmer said.
“Starting today, you will see more uniformed officers patrolling on foot in the Downtown Eastside.”
Palmer said the initiative is not aimed at targeting people struggling with drug or mental health issues or “everyday residents” of the DTES, but rather will focus on chronic offenders, people with outstanding warrants or who are breaching release conditions and organized crime groups.
He acknowledged that violent and property crime rates were down across the city, but said those statistics hide the violence happening in the neighbourhood.
According to Palmer, 30 per cent of Vancouver’s violent crime is reported in the DTES, including 48 per cent of all shootings.
Pressed on why the VPD, which accounts of about one-fifth of the city’s existing budget, is not already doing the work proposed in Task Force Barrage, Palmer cited several recent investigations that had led to drug seizures and charges against organized crime groups.
“We are doing this work … this isn’t like we are starting from zero,” Palmer said.
“What we are doing now that’s different is there is going to be more of an effort put into the long-term investigations, there is going to be higher beat visibility in the Downtown Eastside, and with the integrated response teams we mentioned we are going to have both.”
A funding request for the project is slated to go to city council later this year.