Proposed funding for Strathcona policing centre draws ire from advocates
Posted January 24, 2017 12:37 pm.
Last Updated January 24, 2017 12:59 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – As Vancouver City Council considers ways to tackle the growing overdose crisis in 2017, a new community policing centre (CPC) in the Strathcona neighbourhood is among the larger spending items.
Like the 10 other such centres already operating in the city, the Strathcona CPC would rely on volunteers to patrol the neighbourhood under the watch of a police officer.
As it relates to the drug crisis, volunteers would be expected to identify places where the homeless are gathering, identify needles for pick up, and assist those who may be using drugs alone on the street.
Overdose Prevention Society Co-founder Anne Livingston says in her over 20 years of work as a community advocate, she has rarely seen such policing centres work as intended. “What they’re going to do is have, ‘Oh, there’s a drug user in my alley, come and get them,’ with more and more arrests, and persecution of the very people whose lives we’re trying to save.”
Livingston argues the continued arrests of drug users by police is contributing to the crisis, and as such, “increasing the police budget at this time is such a slap in the face for all of the work we’ve done.”
Council would provide Vancouver Police with $100,000 to establish the centre, plus $108,200 annually to keep it running.
The city manager tabled an update on the opioid overdose crisis this morning and points out that “the number of people openly using drugs has increased” in Strathcona, and that “concerns regarding impact on the public realm, including discarded needles… have been raised in recent consultations” with businesses and community organizations.
The Pivot Legal Society agrees with Livingston that establishing a new CPC is not the way to go. A representative will argue that point to council on Wednesday. “We have this kind of energy and concern, and a very good neighbourhood in terms of citizen involvement and citizen kindness towards one another in the Downtown Eastside already, and it could spread to Strathcona, but I don’t think it’s going to spread through a community police station,” Livingston concludes.
City council is also considering further funding for a three-person medical unit at Firehall 2, and further training and access to naloxone kits for city and parks workers in 2017.
