DTES COMMUNITY LAUNCHES POLICE OVERSIGHT PROJECT

Press release - July 4 2024

xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, sḵwx̱wú7mesh & səlilwətaɬ lands– Today, members of the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU) and Western Aboriginal Harm Reduction Society (WAHRS) held a press conference to announce a new community-led research project: P.O.W.E.R. (Police Oversight With Evidence and Research). 

P.O.W.E.R. is a community-led research project that will collect and analyze accounts of law enforcement interactions to advance processes of police accountability in Vancouver. Amid a lack of recourse and access to formalized police complaint processes for people in BC, this long-term project will build upon generations of Downtown Eastside (DTES) activism and advocacy in order to analyze public knowledge of police practices, create public education and resources, and develop community-based police oversight.

“The police are not held accountable for the way they behave in our community. We want real public safety – and police oversight is sorely needed.” – Harley R, board member, WAHRS & founding member, P.O.W.E.R.

In past years, VANDU has helped lead numerous community investigations into police-related killings and assaults in the DTES: the killing of Chester Libo-On by a Vancouver Police Department (VPD) constable in January 2021; the death of Chris Amyotte resulting from VPD ‘less-than-lethal’ ammunition in August 2022; and the vehicular assault on Dennis Hunter by VPD constable Jack Zhao in September 2022.

Despite the community’s efforts to collect and publicize critical witness accounts and video evidence in each of these high-profile cases, real accountability has been evaded in every instance. For example: only weeks after VPD constable Jack Zhao received a negligible $2,000 fine after pleading guilty to driving over Dennis Hunter at nearly twice the legal speed limit, another VPD constable drove over another community member only blocks away from where Dennis Hunter was hit on Hastings Street.

"I don't report to any politician. I don't report to the City of Vancouver, I don't report to the province of B.C. or the federal government. To me, the government of the day doesn't matter, I'll just call it how it is and be quite frank about it." – VPD Chief Constable Adam Palmer, 2022

Every day in the DTES, members of law enforcement act with impunity in our community. In addition to the occasional high-profile killing, police violence is ordinary here: harm is perpetuated with every pill seized, pipe smashed, unhoused person swept, slum tenant evicted. And it is not only the VPD — park rangers, bylaw officers and transit police contribute to daily displacement, profiling and violence in the city. With the collaboration of allies in the DTES and beyond, P.O.W.E.R. intends to address systemic issues within law enforcement that produce violence in over-policed communities across BC. 

“The RCMP was created 150 years ago to remove Indigenous Peoples from their land. This is an outdated policy that still guides them today. This has to change. We command that it does. The police must be held accountable by the public.” – Salish Elder Kelly White, member, WAHRS

Beginning on July 10 2024, P.O.W.E.R. will host weekly Wednesday drop-ins from 11am–1pm where members of the community are invited to share accounts of their interactions with law enforcement. P.OW.E.R. aims to collect and analyze community knowledge of police practices in order to educate the public and advocate for systemic change.

Healthcare workers have also faced increased harassment from VPD constables. Care Not Cops, a collective of Vancouver-based healthcare workers, endorse the project and are planning a convergence with P.O.W.E.R. in Fall 2024 to bring focus to police alternatives to community safety and care.

“VPD officers cause disorder in the communities where I do outreach work, and then campaign against disorder for bigger budgets from the city. They target our clients, and when outreach workers strive to work in solidarity with communities we work in, they target us too.”
– Fraser MacPherson, Registered Nurse and member, Care Not Cops