Vancouver councillor calls for transparency from mayor over Downtown Eastside crime and drugs task force
Coun. Pete Fry said he's filed an FOI request to find out who authorized the initiative
A Vancouver city councillor is calling for more transparency from the mayor's office after it was revealed the Vancouver Police Board was not aware of a program intended to curb crime and violence in the Downtown Eastside.
In February, Mayor Ken Sim introduced Task Force Barrage, a "long-term operation to dismantle organized crime networks and target predatory criminals" in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. The program cost $5 million — on top of the Vancouver Police Department's budget of $453 million for 2025.
As reported by CTV News Thursday, VPD Board Chair Frank Chong said the board wasn't aware of Task Force Barrage until it was revealed in a media announcement.
Chong described it as a miscommunication with some missteps, and that they're working to improve processes.
Speaking to CBC News on Friday, Coun. Pete Fry said the same was the case for city council — save for Sim and his ABC caucus.
"I attended that same media conference to find out about it at first when the mayor and his entire ABC caucus arrived on stage to announce this operation barrage," Fry said.
"I'm very curious how this was authorized, what the communication pattern was, what are the objectives, what are the key performance indicators to justify a $5-million expenditure that seems to have come out of the mayor's office."
The Green Party councillor said the announcement was a "complete surprise" at the time, adding that the B.C. Police Act specifies that any changes to the board's budget must be agreed to by both the council and board.
"A council must include in its budget the costs in the provisional budget prepared by the municipal police board, as adjusted to reflect the following: (a) changes agreed to by the council and the board," reads Section 27.
Since the launch of the task force in February, the VPD has deployed additional front-line officers to the Downtown Eastside area. Police said in an update about a month later that the initiative had contributed to a decline in street-level assaults and other violent crimes in the area.
During this Thursday's meeting with the police board, VPD Deputy Chief Const. Howard Chow touted the program's effectiveness.
He said they've seized 962 weapons and 96 firearms — 16 of which were real, the rest replicas — and that they've made 610 warrant arrests, with 341 new charges to individuals.
"This is what success looks like," Chow said, adding the numbers only show "one side of the story."
"It really is the perception of crime and the sense of safety down there that's gonna really mark whether this was a success or not for us."
Sim, who attended the board meeting, applauded their work.
"I'm just gonna speak from my heart here — this is a no-brainer. It makes absolute sense," Sim told Chow. "Thank you very much for all of your efforts. You guys are making a huge difference."
Fry said he acknowledges there are serious issues around crime in the Downtown Eastside and commended the VPD's work, but that he mainly takes issue with the lack of transparency and accountability around the process.
"Vancouver police are being very diligent and doing more street work and that's great," he said.
"But we still need that clarity in chain of command. We need to know that authorizations from the police office are not coming out from the back room of the mayor's office, but they're coming through the appropriate channels, and there's appropriate accountability."
Fry said he's also filed his own freedom of information request to find out who authorized the task force and its budget.
Asked why the police board wasn't aware of Task Force Barrage until it was announced, Sim said it was a matter of process.
"The VPD, they deal with their operational issues, and as a board, the VPD board, they basically review stuff and sometimes when there's communication challenges or whatever, you reassess and you improve them," Sim said.
"We're in a constant process of improving processes."
With files from Alphonsine Sefu