Missing person response process revamped: Vancouver Police
Posted December 18, 2012 1:25 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Vancouver Police say their response to missing persons has undergone a complete revamp.
That statement comes as as police publicly respond to the findings of an inquiry on the Downtown Eastside’s missing women.
Chief Jim Chu began a news conference today by once again offering an apology to the families and friends of the missing and murdered women.
“We could have and we should have caught Pickton sooner.”
Police insist they have undergone dramatic change in the way they handle missing persons cases.
As examples, the police news conference included a sex industry liaison officer as well as a constable from the Diversity and Aboriginal Policing Unit.
Deputy Chief Doug Lepard says reports of marginalized people who go missing require a high priority response.
“The fact that they are marginalized makes them at very high risk for violence.”
Chu also says among Canada’s large cities, only Vancouver and Victoria don’t have regional police.
“If we were to design the ideal policing structure for the Greater Vancouver region, I don’t think we would design what we have now.”
