VANCOUVER POLICE BOARD

Transcription

1 VANCOUVER POLICE BOARD MINUTES of Regular Meeting held on July , 1:00 pm to 2:45 pm Aboriginal Friendship Centre, 1607 East Hastings Street, Vancouver, BC Board Members Present Mayor Sam Sullivan Mary McNeil Dale Parker Patti Marfleet Glenn Wong Absent Terry La Liberté Present Chief Constable Jamie Graham DCC Jim Chu DCC Doug LePard DCC Bob Rich DCC Bob Rolls Insp Scott Thompson, District 3 [#5] Insp Eric Petit, Commanding District 2 [#8] Insp Tom McCluskie, Major Crime Section [#10] Chris Taulu, Coordinator, Joyce Street CPC Shona McGlashan, Board Executive Director Kylie Monan Sabo, Board Administrative Assistant Delegations None The Regular Meeting was called to order at 1:00 pm. 1. Adoption of Regular Meeting Agenda THAT the Vancouver Police Board approve the Regular Meeting Agenda for July 19, Approval of Minutes THAT the Vancouver Police Board approve the Regular Meeting Minutes of June 14, New Board members: introduction and taking the oath Board members Mary McNeil, Patti Marfleet, Dale Parker and Glenn Wong took the following oath: Having been re-appointed to the Board, Mary McNeil and Dale Parker retook their oath of office. Mayor Sullivan introduced and welcomed two new Board members, Patti Marfleet and Glenn Wong. Ms Marfleet and Mr Wong also took their oaths of office at this time. [Their profiles are available at 4. Delegations None Vancouver Police Board / JULY 19, 2006 REGULAR MINUTES page 1

2 5. Vancouver Police Department Drug Policy Position Insp Scott Thompson, Administrative Inspector for District 3, presented the Vancouver Police Department s proposed Drug Policy position. There were two purposes to the presentation: 1. Publicly introduce the Vancouver Police Department s drug policy, and 2. Solicit feedback and approval from the Vancouver Police Board to endorse this as VPD policy. Vancouver had become one of the national focal points for drug policy and substance abuse approaches. Policy that was implemented, evaluated and debated in Vancouver had a significant impact on how Police Forces and Governments determined what direction they would take on substance abuse. The VPD dealt with substance abuse on a daily basis and felt it necessary to develop a drug policy and process to re-examine that policy on an ongoing basis. It was important that the VPD had a single, unified public position on drug policy that would provide an enforcement guideline for VPD members on the street. The VPD s public safety mission as it related to the drug policy was to reduce crime, fear of crime, street disorder, and protect the vulnerable as well as the central value of policing which was to preserve and protect life. The policy had been developed by a working group formed in December Members of the VPD Executive, patrol teams in all 4 districts, Beat Teams, and drug squad members were consulted during its formation. The VPD Executive reviewed the policy, as well as Donald MacPherson, the City of Vancouver s drug policy coordinator, and Heather Hay with the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority. The VPD s public safety mission as it related to the drug policy was to reduce crime, fear of crime, street disorder, and protect the vulnerable as well as the central value of policing which was to preserve and protect life. The drug policy as it related to the 4 Pillars Approach should represent a balanced approach across all pillars with projects and initiatives complementary of one another. The prevention pillar was a significant pillar that lacked resources to target age-appropriate prevention needs and education strategies. Therefore, the VPD felt that it was imperative that they partner with the Vancouver School Board and implement prevention programs. The VPD continued to target street and middle level psychoactive substance traffickers as well as those people who produced psychoactive substances with the intent to traffic. Enforcement against public psychoactive substance abuse and possession was a priority with the VPD. Laws against the possession or illegal use of psychoactive substances were to be enforced in circumstances where the user(s) were engaged in behaviours that harmed or interfered in the lawful use or enjoyment of public or private property and, or contributed to street disorder or caused fear among citizens and the community at large. Enforcement was directed specifically at parks and school grounds. This was the enforcement guide for VPD officers on the street. The Police Board requested that its new members were to be provided a copy of the policy before making a decision to accept this as policy. Insp Thompson was requested to return to the next Board meeting in September for further discussion on the VPD s drug policy. Vancouver Police Board / JULY 19, 2006 REGULAR MINUTES page 2

3 6. Updates from committees 6.1 Governance Committee Dale Parker reported that the Governance Committee meeting had been postponed to September. 6.2 Report #0652: Board Committee allocation The Board members volunteered for the following committee commitments: THAT Dale Parker be appointed Vice-Chair of the Vancouver Police Board for Members of the Vancouver Police Board accepted the following committee and liaison appointments: FARP Appeals Review Panel: Terry La Liberté, Finance Committee: Dale Parker, Glenn Wong (Chair), vacant FOI Committee: Mary McNeil (Chair), Terry La Liberté Governance Committee: Patti Marfleet (Chair), Terry La Liberté, Dale Parker Human Resources & Compensation Committee: Mary McNeil (Chair), Glenn Wong, Patti Marfleet Service & Policy Complaint Review Panel: Terry La Liberté (Chair); at least 3 other members to attend each meeting Chief Constable s Diversity Advisory Committee: Terry La Liberté Vancouver Police Foundation/Board liaison: Glenn Wong 7. Canadian Association of Police Boards annual conference 7.1 THAT the Vancouver Police Board approve the travel of the following Board members, pending members and staff to attend the Canadian Association of Police Boards annual conference in Edmonton, from August 16, 2006 to August 19, 2006: Terry La Liberté, Dale Parker, Glenn Wong, Patti Marfleet, Jerry Adams, and Shona McGlashan. 7.2 THAT the Vancouver Police Board approve the Canadian Association of Police Boards request for financial support in the sum of $1,000 for their annual conference in Edmonton. 8. District 2 initiatives Insp Eric Petit, Commanding Officer of District 2 presented on the following issues: The geographical region of District 2 covered 17 km 2 which was approximately 15% of the City of Vancouver. Vancouver Police Board / JULY 19, 2006 REGULAR MINUTES page 3

4 The District 2 members focused on high visibility and contesting the open air drug market and street disorder. Issues that District 2 members faced included drug trafficking, mentally ill offenders, chronic offenders and their sentencing, and the underground economy. Project Lucille targeted 10 licensed premises, 9 pawn shops, and 3 convenience stores. The outcome consisted of 60 criminal charges, business license suspensions and many permanent closures for businesses that conducted their affairs illegally. Project Raven targeted 30 pawn shops in 30 days. This operation deployed 2 covert units that consisted of 16 officers. The focus for this project was the businesses that engaged in the fencing of stolen property. This project saw many businesses suspended and even more closed permanently for their behaviour. Project Haven was a 10 week undercover operation whereby police officers posed as drug addicts renting rooms. The targets for this project included 3 Single Room Occupancy (SROs) to uncover illegal drug activity, fencing of stolen property and welfare cheque fraud. To date District 2 had achieved closing down 30 pawn shops, closed over 50 problem premises and a dramatic 8% reduction in property crime. Current projects focussed on foreign national drug traffickers, the Chronic Offender Program (COP), open air drug use, and project Alchemy. 9. Court Watch presentation Ms Chris Taulu of the Collingwood Community Policing Centre presented on the Court Watch program on behalf of the Vancouver Community Policing Centres. Discussion on the Court Watch program included: (A) The program had been introduced 6 years ago and involved many volunteers from all over Vancouver. However, with the random selection of cases, and the lack of continuity and focus there was a decline in volunteer support. By 2006 only one volunteer remained. The point of the Court Watch program was to collect data on the sentencing patterns for a group of chronic offenders who victimized Vancouver residents. (B) A great deal of preliminary research was conducted. This research included consultation with the VPD, the Police Board, Judges, Crown and Defence lawyers. Vancouver residents were concerned about property crime. A small group of chronic offenders were responsible for a disproportionate amount of the crime that occurred. The volunteers, after they had been screened, interviewed and trained, would go to Provincial court and attend the trials of a group of 10 designated offenders who had had at least 12 prior charges in the past 12 months. Volunteers would be present only to collect data on sentencing and at the end of a 6 month period, the Court Watch program would return to the Board to update them on the analyzed data they gathered. The point of the Court Watch program was to collect data on the sentencing patterns for a group of chronic offenders who victimized Vancouver residents. Vancouver Police Board / JULY 19, 2006 REGULAR MINUTES page 4

5 10. Chief Constable s report Chief Constable Graham reported that: The Vancouver Police Foundation and the BC Institute of Technology were conducting an innovative study on german shepherd police service dogs. The information and data collected would focus on their performance and health. Chief Graham introduced Insp Tom McCluskie in charge of the Major Crimes Section for the VPD. Insp McCluskie travelled to Cambodia to present the Cambodian Police Officials with awards of merit for their role in successfully prosecuting a sexual predator that had travelled from Canada for the sole purpose of exploiting children there. Insp McCluskie noted that there was a single RCMP Officer stationed in Cambodia to liaise with government officials, however, the amount of work was overwhelming for one officer. The VPD, alongside the RCMP and the OPP had initiated discussion with the Canadian ambassador in Cambodia to develop seconded positions specifically targeting the prolific number of child exploiters that travel there for illegal purposes. Chief Graham and Insp McCluskie were unsure of where this project might lead, but noted that they had a unique responsibility to enforce Canadian legislation specifically designed to attack the aforementioned behaviour. Chief Graham said he would update the Board when more information was available. 11. Correspondence & information THAT the Vancouver Police Board receive as information the following: 11.1 Memo from Chief Constable: Compliments letters received to date 11.2 Report #0567: Public Complaints Statistics for June Report to Council, Community Policing Initiatives and Funding 11.4 Notice from CAPB announcing new Executive 11.5 Police Complaint Commissioner s Annual Report BC Association of Police Boards Executive Minutes, May 6, E-Comm First Quarter Results, January to March Closing question period Mr Dean Wilson, a member of the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU), requested that the Vancouver Police Board go on record to support the extension of INSITE. The Board agreed that discussion on the topic of the supervised injection site would occur further, however, the data gathered during the trial would have to be analyzed before a position would be taken. Mr Rider Cooey questioned why the Chief of Police administered the oath of office for new and re-appointed Board members and suggested the Board Chair may be more appropriate. Mr Ken Burrows from Grandview Woodlands Community Policing Centre was pleased with the VPD s proactive policing methods with regards to dealing with the property crime in District 2. He also thanked the Executive for the deployment strategies of police officers to the community policing centres. Overall he wanted the Board and the Executive to know that people in his community were happy with the job the police were doing. Vancouver Police Board / JULY 19, 2006 REGULAR MINUTES page 5

6 Mr Chester Grant, President of the Hastings-Sunrise Community Policing Centre and Hastings North Business Improvement Area appreciated recent initiatives by the VPD in his area. Police had been especially helpful around issues such as problem premises and responding to a spate of robberies. 13. Enquiries & other business Mayor Sullivan outlined his vision for the Police Board. He wanted to see a modern, professional and accountable police force which worked closely with the City on public safety initiatives. The City had recently undergone a review of roles, relationships and responsibilities and he proposed that the Board and the Police Department undertake a similar review. He particularly wished the Board to pay attention to communications policies, shared services, integration and efficiencies. THAT the Board move into private session to discuss matters which either a) concern public security, the disclosure of which could reasonably be expected to seriously impair effective policing or law enforcement; b) concern a person s financial or personal affairs, where the person s interest in the matter outweighs the public s interest in the matter; c) concern labour contract discussions, labour management relations, layoffs or other personnel matters; d) concern information that a person has requested he or she be allowed to give in private. The Regular Meeting was adjourned at 2:45 pm. At its in camera meeting on July 19, 2006, the Vancouver Police Board: 1. was briefed by the Chief Constable and Deputy Chief Constables on matters which they requested be presented in camera 2. received an update on counter-terrorism issues 3. discussed issues around integration and secondments 4. discussed other personnel issues APPROVED BY THE VANCOUVER POLICE BOARD ON SEPTEMBER 13, 2006 Vancouver Police Board / JULY 19, 2006 REGULAR MINUTES page 6