Vancouver police deny claims of DTES task force arrest quotas

An anonymous whistleblower claims that managers at the Vancouver Police Department’s (VPD) ‘Task Force Barrage’ have imposed quotas for arresting drug users in the city’s Downtown Eastside—but police deny it.

The whistleblower, claiming to be a VPD officer, submitted their complaint to the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner (OPCC) March 8.

“I write as a VPD officer disgusted by the political [sic] motivated crackdown that has been launched by the VPD. This is entirely motivated by politics,” the letter begins, claiming those in charge have been “setting quotas.”

“Management sent an email that set an expectation that each team working [in the DTES] would arrest [REDACTED] on drug charges.”

The OPCC says that, legally, the board must now initiate an investigation or a study, ask Chief Adam Palmer to launch an investigation, or dismiss the complaint with reasons.

A redacted version of the letter was included in a Vancouver Police Board agenda for its Thursday, April 24 meeting. 

Language included in an OPCC email to the board explicitly describes the whistleblower as a “VPD member.”

VPD denies claims

VPD spokesperson Sgt. Steve Addison says it’s not clear whether that’s an accurate representation.

“We have no way of knowing whether or not this letter actually came from a police officer. It may have, and that’s fine,” said Addison, adding that it does not change the task force’s performance.

As for the allegation of quotas, Addison says “there’s no basis to that.”

He says the department has expectations for officers on the task force, which has resulted in 314 arrest warrants and 193 reports to crown council since its inception.

The ‘Barrage’ task force was announced mid-February of this year together by Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim and Vancouver Police Chief Adam Palmer. Sim and Palmer described it as the “new long-term initiative targeting organized crime and public safety concerns” in the Downtown Eastside (DTES).

According to an update provided by the VPD last month, nearly 200 weapons were seized in the first four weeks of the initiative, and assaults with weapons also decreased 30 per cent compared to the previous four weeks.

The task force, which costs the city $5 million in initiatives, has been hailed as well as criticized from the get-go. 

Mayor Sim increased VPD budget

Critics say the increased budget of the VPD has not led to reduced crime. Since Sim took office in 2022, the annual VPD budget has grown by almost $93 million.

According to a study published in the Canadian Public Policy journal, “net increases in spending per capita are not associated with greater net decreases in crime rates.”

Fiona York, an advocate for people who are homeless in the DTES and nearby encampments, is equally critical of ‘Task Force Barrage.’ She says that the stigmatizing and discriminating task force is making the situation in the DTES so much worse.

She says the city’s work in the DTES is lacking in compassion and collaboration with people who live in the community.

York questioned if the task force is effective.

“Is this actually making people feel safer in the Downtown Eastside? Is this actually helping people? Is contributing to anything other than just stigma, further stigma, and further obscuring people, or making people hide away in the shadows where we already know it just furthering the overdose crisis, and it’s not helping at all?”

The email from the whistleblower says they were taught that officers had discretion to decide whether to charge people.

“But now it’s clear they don’t value their officer’s discretion and decision making, and their (sic) setting quotas. I don’t think this is legal or right,” the email says.

Addison said that’s not true; he asserts VPD officers have always had discretion on whether to make an arrest or issue a ticket and that continues today as part of ‘Task Force Barrage.’

—With files from The Canadian Press