Outgoing Vancouver police chief stands behind Task Force Barrage

The outgoing chief of the Vancouver Police Department is standing behind the results of Task Force Barrage.

Throughout a police board meeting Thursday, Chief Adam Palmer and the rest of the VPD’s leading officers underlined the results of the project, which was established to restore safety and order to the Downtown Eastside and surrounding neighbourhoods.

“Up until April 15, we’ve seized 459 weapons out of the Downtown Eastside,” he said.

“Almost 200 reports have been put forward to Crown counsel. 314 people have been arrested on warrants.”

Dept. Chief Const. Howard Chow says the force finally has the tools it needs to make a difference.

“We’ve been finally given the resources, the sustained resources, to keep the pressure on,” Chow said.

“And we’re going to keep it on.”

Vancouver City Coun. Pete Fry says some of those resources include $5 million in overtime pay, which VPD Deputy Chief Const. Steve Rai says is necessary to meet the city’s growing policing requirements, including protests.

Fry also alleges Task Force Barrage is pushing street disorder to different neighbourhoods.

“More east of Gore on Hastings Street, we’re seeing a lot more disorder,” Fry said.

“There was a stabbing at Pender and Dunlevy, which is very close to my house, very close to an elementary school and seniors housing. And there’s a lot more disorder around there, there’s more disorder in Railtown.”

Palmer says this is to be expected.

“I’ll be quite frank: that’s like Policing 101,” he said.

“When you do a concerted effort into a certain area, you may see spill-off into other areas. So we’re watching Chinatown, Downtown, Strathcona, Gastown, all the shouldering neighbourhoods of that. We’re looking into that on a daily basis.”

Task Force Barrage has come under increased scrutiny in the face of complaints from a whistleblower — purportedly a police officer — who alleges members face arrest quotas and says the project is politically motivated.

Palmer denies this.

“We have no quotas for Task Force Barrage,” he said.

“And I’ve been a police officer in this city for 37 years. I remember when I came on the job in the late ’80s, we had some quotas back then for tickets and a couple of other different things back in the ’80s. I haven’t seen quotas in the VPD for over 30 years.”

The whistleblower complaint is now with the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner, and the VPD is expected to deliver a full report addressing this on June 19.