The study, completed by Alberta-based HelpSeeker Technologies and released Wednesday morning, reportedly pegs the annual cost of providing social services to the city at about $5 billion. The study was commissioned by the Vancouver Police Department (VPD) without city involvement at a cost of $149,000 in public funding. VPD Chief Adam Palmer suggested at a news conference Wednesday morning that it appears too much is being spent on the Downtown Eastside without proper coordination or oversight. Coun. Christine Boyle said she was troubled by the implications. “I think it’s political, and I think it’s harmful to the important, broader conversation we should be having about systemic solutions to the overlapping crises we’re in. That conversation cannot and should not be led by a police force.” She and other observers suggested this is another example of the growing politicization of police in Vancouver, coming so soon after the Vancouver Police Association unprecedented support from Mayor Ken Sim and ABC Vancouver in the October municipal elections. Then, just two days ago, union president Ralph Kaisers posted on social media about meeting new federal Conservative leader Pierre Polievre and other Tory MPs. “It all leaves a bad taste,” Boyle said. Thank you sir. Poilievre, MPs Vis, Caputo & Morrison to meet with us to discuss issues facing our officers here in Vancouver and across BC. https://t.co/PcaQn78PYC —@rkaisers_VPU Political scientist Stewart Perst of Quest University said the public should be very concerned about this trend of police involvement in politics. “This is not what we expect the police to do with the funds allocated to them,” he said. Perst said it is appropriate for the police to provide information and advice to lawmakers about policing duties and how best to carry them out, but this report goes far beyond that, commenting on how a wide range of unrelated services. “It makes us look at the police differently,” he said. “If they are so willing to twist their analysis to fit what appears to be a political narrative … then what else do we have to question?”
Chief says police ‘not political entities’
Chief Adam Palmer was asked at Wednesday’s press conference why this kind of analysis would be a police matter. He responded that VPD officers “have a unique insight into the roller coaster of life in this city” and that the department has reason to be concerned about the situation in the downtown Eastside. Palmer went on to say that the police “are not political entities” and “it doesn’t matter to me what the government of the day is”. But there have been serious questions about HelpSeeker’s methodologies, mostly from Business in Vancouver columnist Rob Shawwho called the report and its police summary “misleading works of fiction”. In a written statement, Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth agreed, accusing the police department of “spreading shocking and misleading numbers.” As for the new mayor, who was elected with the support of the police union, Sim demurred when asked about the appropriateness of the police commissioning a study like this. But he added that he doesn’t find the study helpful and said the numbers don’t appear to be well supported. “This report is not one that we’re going to rely on a lot when it comes to facts and figures,” he said. At least one advocate says the Downtown Eastside has really lost critical services recently. (Ben Nelms/CBC) For Downtown Eastside resident and former drug policy advisor Karen Ward, it’s hard not to question the motivations behind the report. He suggested that police in Vancouver and across North America have become increasingly politically active since the Black Lives Matter protests in the summer of 2020. “The message of the protest … is that we don’t need the police,” Ward said. “And we really don’t.” The reality on the ground, Ward said, is that the Downtown Eastside has lost services in recent years, including drop-in centers and peer mental health programs. “As our social infrastructure crumbles due to lack of funding, austerity budgets and other things like that, the police … become essential,” Ward said. “If there’s no one to call but the police for everything, then everyone will call the police.” Palmer was asked Wednesday if the report was designed to suggest more funding should be given to the police, and he said the question was “not even relevant” to the investigation. “It’s not about getting more money for the police,” he insisted.
