DOCSLIB.ORG

Vancouver Police Department

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Vancouver Police Department SERVICE OR POLICY AGENDA ITEM #6.2 VANCOUVER POLICE DEPARTMENT REPORT TO THE VANCOUVER POLICE BOARD REPORT DATE: March 27, 2020 COMMITTEE MEETING DATE: April 16, 2020 BOARD REPORT # 2001C04 Regular TO: Vancouver Police Board Service and Policy Complaint Review Committee FROM: Staff Sergeant Cameron Murdock, District 2, Operations Division SUBJECT: Service or Policy Complaint #2020-006: Response to Oppenheimer Park Incident ____________________________________________________________________________ RECOMMENDATION: THAT the Vancouver Police Board Service and Policy Complaint Review Committee (Committee) concludes its review of the complaint based on the information outlined in this report. SUMMARY: Within the last eighteen months, the Committee reviewed three Service and Policy Complaints regarding Vancouver Police Department (VPD) officers being deployed with carbine rifles and each of those complaints were concluded after being reviewed by the Committee (see Committee reports #1812C02, #1910C05, and #2002C04). The complainant stated that on February 15, 2020, she observed numerous police officers responding to a report of a fight in Oppenheimer Park. One officer who responded carried an “assault rifle” and another carried a “semiautomatic rifle”. A police vehicle pulled up in front of the field house, near the overdose prevention tent. The complainant observed 6-8 other officers standing with a handcuffed suspect – and many of these officers carried “assault rifles”. The complainant believes that the level of response was inappropriate for the situation and that the incident was potentially traumatizing to residents of the park. Additionally, she believes that having so many officers in close vicinity to the overdose prevention tent was invasive as well as a potential privacy concern for those using the tent. The complainant recommends that officers be given trauma informed training and peer run homelessness cultural sensitivity training. The amount of officers present and the specialized equipment they possessed as they were dispatched to the incident that was reported as a bleeding victim and a man armed with a knife. The call to the officers was of a violent crime, with a suspect armed with a weapon in the vicinity, and located in a high-risk area. The responding officers arrived within minutes and, while the incident was near the overdose tent, they were able to quickly investigate and resolve the matter. The officers then facilitated paramedic access to the injured person and did not impede access to the overdose prevention tent. The response was reasonable given the circumstances of the call that was dispatched to the officers. Trauma-informed practice training has been provided to investigative sections within the VPD; however it would not have been applicable in this incident. The VPD has, and continues to provide training to officers on many topics that are applicable to the residents of the Downtown Eastside (DTES) and Vancouver’s diverse communities. Such training includes, but is not limited to, Crisis Intervention and De-escalation, Indigenous Cultural Competency, fair and impartial policing, people living with addiction and mental health challenges, and topics specific to the LGBTQ2S+ community. The VPD recommends that the Committee concludes its review of this complaint based on the information outlined in this report. BACKGROUND: The call for service in this complaint was received via 9-1-1 at 17:43 hours on February 16, 2020. The caller was mumbling and the call-taker had difficulty making out many words – other than “bleeding” and “guy has a knife”. The dispatcher advised responding members that the caller was bleeding and Emergency Health Services (EHS) was needed. It was difficult to obtain additional information as the caller refused to answer the call-taker’s questions. A field supervisor and three 2-person police units responded with the first unit arriving on scene at 17:48 hours. Of note, Oppenheimer Park has been the site of an encampment for over a year. There are many tents in the park, and it is difficult to not only see but navigate through the tents, material, and debris in the park. During the encampment, the VPD has responded to a significantly higher number of calls for service, including numerous violent crimes, incidents involving weapons, significant assaults, stabbings, shootings, and a homicide. There are regular seizures of weapons from the area within and around the park including knives, swords, baseball bats, handguns, shotguns, and semi-automatic weapons. VPD members have been subject to open hostility from those in the park and some officers have been assaulted. In this particular case, the field supervisor ensured there were sufficient members responding to the incident to provide a safe response. Officers also responded with specialized equipment, including conductive energy weapons, a bean-bag shotgun, and a carbine rifle, as the information from the complainant indicated there was a weapon involved. There were numerous people in the park when officers first arrived. They quickly located the victim and the suspect and took the suspect into custody. They then facilitated paramedics to safely attend to the injuries of the victim. The officers arrested the suspect close to the overdose prevention tent. Upon investigation, they determined that this was a consensual fight between two intoxicated males and that there was no weapon involved in the incident. The officers facilitated EHS attendance to the victim whose injury was determined to be minor. Once the paramedics were finished treating the victim, the officers released the suspect as the incident was consensual. At no time did the officers need to use their specialized equipment during this incident. Also, at no time did the officers prevent anyone from accessing the overdose prevention site. DISCUSSION: The BC Provincial Policing Standards sets the standards for the use of specialized firearms for all police departments in British Columbia. These standards include carbine rifles, which have been issued to specially selected and trained patrol members for many years. These firearms are also commonly used by police departments across Canada. Their deployment enhances officers’ 2 ability to deal with an armed suspect, from a safe distance, because it allows for greater accuracy from distance than other lethal options, such as a pistol. The use of the carbine serves to, during potentially deadly incidents, decrease the risk to innocent bystanders, the public, and the police, should an armed response be required. VPD field supervisors overseeing an in-progress incident must consider whether the incident is volatile, whether a weapon is involved, if there is a risk of violent resistance to patrol officers, and whether specialized equipment is needed. The field supervisor is also responsible to ensure that there are sufficient responding members, depending on the circumstances of the incident and the information provided by the caller. As well, the field supervisor is responsible for ensuring that responding units have the appropriate tools with them, which includes the availability of less lethal options or a carbine rifle, where weapons may be indicated. In this case, police responded to what was reported as a bleeding victim and with an armed suspect in the vicinity. The officers quickly arrested the suspect, investigated the incident, and facilitated paramedics attending to the victim’s injuries. The injuries were determined to be minor and both parties were allowed to proceed. Given the circumstances, with the scant information available to them about a reported violent incident, the response was entirely appropriate. The complainant recommended that officers be given trauma-informed training and peer-run homelessness and cultural sensitivity training. The VPD was one of the first police departments in Canada to mandate Crisis Intervention and De-escalation training and officers are required to re-certify every three years. They have also received training on topics that are applicable to the residents of the DTES and to members of Vancouver’s diverse communities. This training, although not all-inclusive, includes Indigenous Cultural Competency, fair and impartial policing, those living with addiction and mental health challenges, and the LGBTQ2S+ community. Such training is robust and informs police actions in the community. The use of trauma-informed practice training, which has been provided to VPD investigative sections, would not have been applicable in this incident as such training is for traumatized victims who struggle with providing information via cognitive interview techniques. CONCLUSION: The complainant was concerned about the presence of specialized equipment in Oppenheimer Park and with the officers’ proximity to the overdose prevention tent. Officers responded to an unknown threat, with a possible weapon, and did so with specialized equipment appropriate for the threat described in the incident. The responding officers arrived within minutes and, while the incident was near the overdose tent, they quickly investigated and resolve the matter. The officers then facilitated paramedic access to the injured person and did not impede access to the tent. The response was reasonable given the circumstances. The training that VPD officers receive greatly informs them on many topics relevant to the residents of the DTES and to Vancouver’s many diverse communities. As such, it is recommended that the Committee concludes its review of this complaint based on the information outlined in this report. Author: S/Sgt. Cam Murdock Telephone: 604-717-3252 Date: March 27, 2020 Submitting Executive Member: DCC Howard Chow Date: April 2, 2020 3 .
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Vancouver's Downtown Eastside: a Community in Need of Balance
    Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside: A Community in Need of Balance Strathcona Business Improvement Association Ray-Cam Community Association Inner City Safety Society Contacts: Joji Kumagai Judy McGuire Executive Director Coordinator Strathcona Business Improvement Association Inner City Safety Society (604) 258-2727 (604) 889-8430 [email protected] [email protected] Table of Contents I Overview ...............................................................................................................................................2 II Introduction to the Downtown Eastside .................................................................................................4 III Homelessness and Housing ...................................................................................................................7 A. Housing Location ....................................................................................................................................... 8 B. Housing First .............................................................................................................................................. 9 C. Housing or Home? ................................................................................................................................... 10 D. Costs ........................................................................................................................................................ 11 E. Community Amenities ............................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Our Community in Need
    Our Community in Need THE VPD’S COMMUNITY-FOCUSED SAFETY STRATEGIES NOVEMBER, 2020 VANCOUVER POLICE DEPARTMENT TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................................................................5 SNAPSHOT: SUMMARY OF SECTIONS ...............................................................................................................5 Mental Health .................................................................................................................................................5 Homelessness ..................................................................................................................................................6 Substance Use Abuse ......................................................................................................................................7 Sex Work .........................................................................................................................................................7 IMPROVING SOCIAL CONDITIONS THROUGH COMMUNITY COLLABORATION ....................8 ELEMENTS OF COMMUNITY POLICING .............................................................................................................8 I. THE VPD’S MENTAL HEALTH STRATEGY ......................................................................................9 AN ESTABLISHED COMMITMENT: HELPING INDIVIDUALS WITH MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES .................................9 PARTNERSHIPS FOR HEALTHY OUTCOMES ........................................................................................................9
    [Show full text]
  • Proudfoot Dissertation
    The Anxious Enjoyment of Poverty: Drug Addiction, Panhandling, and the Spaces of Psychoanalysis by Jesse Proudfoot B.A., University of British Columbia, 2001 M.A., Simon Fraser University, 2006 Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Geography Faculty of Environment © Jesse Proudfoot 2011 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY Fall 2011 All rights reserved. However, in accordance with the Copyright Act of Canada, this work may be reproduced, without authorization, under the conditions for Fair Dealing. Therefore, limited reproduction of this work for the purposes of private study, research, criticism, review and news reporting is likely to be in accordance with the law, particularly if cited appropriately. Approval Name: Jesse Proudfoot Degree: Doctor of Philosophy Title of Thesis: The Anxious Enjoyment of Poverty: Drug Addiction, Panhandling, and the Spaces of Psychoanalysis Examining Committee: Chair: Dr. Janet Sturgeon Associate Professor, Geography Dr. Paul Kingsbury Senior Supervisor Associate Professor, Geography Dr. Nick Blomley Supervisor Professor, Geography Dr. Eugene McCann Supervisor Associate Professor, Geography Dr. Clint Burnham Internal Examiner Associate Professor, English Dr. Chris Philo External Examiner Professor, Geography University of Glasgow, Scotland, UK Date Defended/Approved: ii Partial Copyright Licence SIMON FMASER UNIVERSITY 'II'JO~IJOG OF 'JOE WORLD STATEMENT OF ETHICS APPROVAL The author, whose name appears on the title page of this work, has obtained, for the research described in this work, either: (a) Human research ethics approval from the Simon Fraser University Office of Research Ethics, or (b) Advance approval of the animal care protocol from the University Animal Care Committee of Simon Fraser University; or has conducted the research (c) as a co-investigator, collaborator or research assistant in a research project approved in advance, or (d) as a member of a course approved in advance for minimal risk human research, by the Office of Research Ethics.
    [Show full text]
  • A Report on Policing in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside
    TO SERVE AND PROTECT 25 years ago: Vancouver Sun, 1977 "City officers guilty of beating Mountie" RCMP Constable Barry Milewski testified that two Vancouver city police officers "punched and kicked him to the ground and hit him with a flashlight" when, in his capacity as an undercover agent, he was "walk- ing to a drug dealing contact in Gastown." He did not identify himself as an RCMP officer when questioned by the city police, because of his undercover assignment. The defence of the city police was that Constable Milewski, appearing to be merely a local resident, swore at them as he jaywalked across the street. City policeman Michael Carpenter, a former British amateur box- ing champion, testified that he hit Milewski only once and that he had "no idea how Milewski received a series of bruises to his back and side." This type of violence is not normally accepted in peace-time Canada and both Vancouver policemen were convicted. Would they have been con- victed if their victim was not another policeman? The answer is unequivocally 'no.' From Peaceful Measures: Canada's way out of the war on drugs by Professor Bruce K. Alexander. University of Toronto Press. T TO SERVE AND PROTECT Contents Executive Summary 01 Context 03 Affidavit program overview 04 Research Method 04 Barriers 05 The Law and Abuses of Authority 06 Torture 06 Unreasonable Use of Force 09 Harassment of Observers 12 Verbal Misconduct 14 Threats of Assault 16 Jack-ups 18 Unlawful Arrests 20 Unlawful Searches 22 Unlawful Seizure of Property 26 Marching Orders 28 Starlight Tours 29 Unlawful Detentions 30 Lack of Medical Treatment in Jail 32 The Complaints Process 34 Reliability of the Evidence 36 The PACE Report 36 The VIDUS Data 36 Impacts 36 Health 36 Economic 37 Recommendations for Systemic Change 38 1.
    [Show full text]
  • Constructing Tent City: Media Representations of Oppenheimer Park
    78 Jankovic Constructing Tent City: Media representations of Oppenheimer Park Tara Jankovic University of British Columbia Abstract. This paper explores the role of media representations in constructing the land- scape of Vancouver’s inner-city. Emphasizing how landscape is discursively created, this paper analyzes the imposition of socio-spatial realities on the Downtown Eastside. Fo- cusing on the 2019 tent city at Oppenheimer Park, I explore how processes of territorial stigmatization, dispossession, and the erasure of disorderly bodies are directly related to media representations. Building off Blomley & Liu’s (2013) work, I use a framing anal- ysis to shed light on the dominant narratives used in local news reporting on tent city. As outlined by Entman (1993), framing analysis illuminates how certain pieces of informa- tion are highlighted to enhance the probability that receivers will perceive and process it. Often used for political purposes, framing is a powerful tool which can influence and shape public opinion. Three prominent frames were found in this research; criminaliza- tion, socialization, and disruption. Introduction The historical and political significance of Oppenheimer park is not lost on anyone who has either grown up in or visited Vancouver. Media reporting of the Downtown East- side has positioned Oppenheimer park, along with the intersection of Main and Hastings, as the center piece of the city’s struggle with crime, drugs, and sex work. Inextricably bound in representations of the Downtown Eastside, narratives of locations such as Op- penheimer Park have become synonymous with more general narratives of the neighbour- hood in which it resides. In other words, mainstream media reporting tends to blur the distinctions of places like Oppenheimer Park, erasing specificities and nesting it within a larger narrative of poverty and crime.
    [Show full text]
  • (Re)Assembling "Japantown": a Critical Toponymy of Planning and Resistance in Vancouver's
    (Re)assembling "Japantown": A critical toponymy of planning and resistance in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside By Trevor James Wideman A thesis submitted to the Graduate Program in Geography in conformity with the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts Queen’s University Kingston, Ontario, Canada Final submission September, 2015 Copyright © Trevor James Wideman, 2015 Abstract For many, toponyms, or place names, appear to provide objective descriptions of locations on the earth. But for geographers, names and naming practices are imbued with meaning, and a recent literature of critical toponymy has emerged that studies and recognizes place names as discursive agents of power and resistance that perform active roles in the ongoing production of place. However, the critical toponymy corpus had produced very little theoretically rich empirical research focusing how urban planning and policymaking processes mobilize place names, or how residents fight against such activities. This thesis fills that lacuna, first by generating a novel theoretical framework (toponymic assemblage) that describes the emergent, relational, and spatially grounded properties of place names. It then outlines a robust, extended, and mixed method case study approach that uses archival/newspaper documentation, discourse analysis, and interview data to form a historically based, theoretically driven, and structurally aware study of toponyms in relation to planning and policymaking. The thesis then presents two empirical case studies based in Vancouver, Canada’s impoverished Downtown Eastside (DTES) that are centred around the name “Japantown,” a toponym that recalls the neighbourhood’s long- time inhabitation by a community of Japanese Canadians who were forcibly uprooted from the Pacific coast during World War II.
    [Show full text]