Community Policing Centre opens new office in South Vancouver

The South Vancouver Community Policing Centre opened its new office on Tuesday and its executive director says it’s been a vital resource for students, recent immigrants, and seniors for 30 years.

Mauro Francis says the centre, now located at Kingsway and Nanaimo Street, needed a bigger space for its 170 volunteers — who conduct local patrols, monitor speeding cars, and translate for residents who have questions.

“Students, recent immigrants, seniors from various communities — Chinese, South Asian — come in and ask for our help. There’s some people who might not be comfortable or come from places where they can’t reach out to the police.”

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Community policing centres in Vancouver started officially in 1996, but volunteers were already doing similar work. Thirty years later, the Vancouver Police Department (VPD) says the 12 centres now operating in the city are vital.

Our Grand Opening was a success! All the hard work from our volunteers and staff made it all happen.

We're so excited to continue to serve the South Vancouver Community in our new, modern facility!

Thanks to all who came out! pic.twitter.com/E80AzKKleh

— South Vancouver Community Policing Centre (@svcpc) September 5, 2023

Dalilah Nguyen, an administrative assistant at the centre, tells CityNews tenancy is a common concern among people coming in and seeking help.

“People in this neighbourhood often deal with bad landlords so we’re figuring out where to direct them and if their concerns need to be directed to the VPD,” she said.

“By the time we finally look at stats it’s too late,” VPD Inspector Terry Yung added.

“Real-time basis they can tell us this is happening: noise complaints, graffiti, or robberies, whatever’s in your neighbourhood and we can in real-time reflect our deployment.”

City of Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim said that not only officers and volunteers play a big role; residents have a responsibility to keep their neighbourhoods safe.

“It takes a group effort, it’s not just people wearing uniforms. It’s all of us here and all of you out there that makes our community safer,” he said.