8 public safety cameras installed in Vancouver's DTES due to high crime rates
Vancouver police say public safety cameras have been installed in the Downtown Eastside to cut down on 'violent incidents targeting the community and police.'
Eight elevated safety cameras have been installed in the Downtown Eastside – four at Main and Hastings, and four at Carrall and Hastings, police said.
They will replace two existing public safety trailers that were deployed in April after a Vancouver Police Department officer was attacked with a knife, two others had their uniforms set on fire and a 92-year-old man was assaulted and died in a lane behind the Carnegie Centre.
'We continue to drive down crime and drive out predators through proactive, assertive, and targeted enforcement against violent criminals and prolific offenders who operate in the Downtown Eastside,' Deputy Chief Howard Chow, Operations Division, said in a statement.
Story continues below advertisement
'Despite significant progress, there's still ongoing and imminent risk to residents and police officers. Now is not the time to let up.'
1:50
Violent crime in DTES dropped in first months of Task Force Barrage, police say
The Vancouver police say that despite representing three per cent of the city's population and two per cent of its geographical area, the Downtown Eastside accounts for 30 per cent of violent crime in the city.
Get breaking National news
For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up
By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy
In February, Vancouver police announced Task Force Barrage, a $5-million initiative to flood the city's troubled Downtown Eastside with patrol officers and crack down on gangs and organized retail theft.
However, police said the areas around Main and Hastings, and Carrall and Hastings, continue to have the highest crime rates in the city.
Story continues below advertisement
So far in 2025, there have been 225 violent crimes, including 14 robberies, 115 assaults and one homicide, within a one-block radius of where the cameras are deployed, according to police statistics.
'Residents, business owners, and community advocates tell us they're still concerned about the level of violence in the Downtown Eastside, where gangs and violent criminals are endangering the community,' Chow added.
'We've spoken to more than a dozen organizations, residents and advocates about this initiative, and we're confident it has widespread community support.'
Police said the cameras are intended to deter violence and capture video evidence.
They will not record audio or be used with facial recognition or artificial intelligence, or for traffic enforcement.
Only authorized VPD employees will have access to recordings, which will be overwritten after four days unless required for criminal investigations.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CTV News
2 hours ago
- CTV News
VPD pushes back against arrest quota allegations
Vancouver Watch Vancouver police are on the defense, responding to an anonymous complaint alleging the force adheres to arrest quotas on the Downtown Eastside.
Global News
3 hours ago
- Global News
Man acquitted after B.C. judge rules he ‘likely' slashed woman but Crown couldn't prove it
A man accused of slashing a woman in the face in an apparent stranger attack in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside has been acquitted, even though the judge ruled it was 'more likely than not' that he was the accused. In a ruling delivered Thursday, Provincial Court Judge G.M. Rideout concluded that while it was possible Shone Robert Selbie was the attacker caught on CCTV, the evidence wasn't good enough to prove it beyond a reasonable doubt. 'It wasn't me,' Selbie told Global News outside the court. 'That's why the judge found me innocent.' 'I look like the person in the video,' he added. Selibe, who turns 52 this year, had been charged with a single count of aggravated assault in Aug. 11, 2024 attack in the 400 block of Cordova Street that left a woman with a serious laceration on her cheek. Story continues below advertisement 1:53 Vancouver machete attacker sentenced CCTV footage captured from two social housing buildings on the block depicts a man hunched over and swaying and holding a box cutter in his hand. In the video, he can be seen putting a woman into a headlock, appearing to slash her face, and then casually walking away. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy The case hinged on the identity of the accused, and the Crown's ability to prove it. At trial, the Crown pointed to the CCTV images themselves, along with testimony from a Vancouver police officer who had interacted with Selbie twice that summer and identified him in court from the images. At trial, prosecutors argued Selbie had a distinctive face with prominent features, including crooked and pointy nose, high cheekbones, and sunken cheeks with deep-set eyes. On the stand, the officer further testified he was '100 per cent certain' Selbie was the person depicted in the CCTV images that had been compiled into a police information bulletin. Story continues below advertisement Selbie's defence argued the CCTV footage was of average quality, and never caught a clear full facial image of the attacker. It also noted that the officer had pointed to the attacker's Nike shoes as a distinctive identifying characteristic, but had incorrectly described the logo on them as black when it was actually white. 0:54 Vancouver police safety trailer vandalized in Downtown Eastside In acquitting Selbie, Rideout agreed the CCTV footage shows someone with a pointed nose, but acknowledged it never caught a full facial view of the suspect. 'Clearly there are some physical characteristics of the suspect in the CCTV footage consistent with the accused's appearance in court,' he ruled. 'I am unable to say with any confidence that the suspect in the CCTV footage is the accused before this court.' Story continues below advertisement The identifying officer, he added, does not have any special training in identification, and 'agreed in cross-examination that some of the characteristics he identifies as distinctive to the accused can also apply to other individuals.' Rideout noticed that in the CCTV footage, the suspect had a distinctive walk, a 'physical hunch-like walk consistent with drug addicts' known in the Downtown Eastside as the 'benzo gait.' The identifying officer, he said, never noticed anything distinctive about Selbie's gait in the two interactions he had with the accused that summer. 0:30 Vancouver police officer slashed with knife in Downtown Eastside Those interactions, together, lasted for about 45 minutes — not enough for his level of familiarity with Selbie to rise to the level of being 'so well acquainted' with him to make his identification 'certain and safe,' Rideout said. 'His recognition evidence is insufficiently reliable to assist the court in identifying the accused as the suspect in the identification bulletin,' Rideout ruled. Story continues below advertisement That led the judge to conclude that while Selbie was more likely than not the attacker, the Crown hadn't met the threshold of proof beyond a reasonable doubt. 'The inherent frailties of identification evidence are well known to the law and have been the subject of frequent judicial consideration and comment,' he said, quoting a legal precedent. 'We must, however, never regard these principles as trite. They are fundamental.'
Global News
4 hours ago
- Global News
Support grows for search of Regina landfill for missing Indigenous woman
More and more people are joining the call for the City of Regina and Regina Police to search the landfill in hopes of discovering missing women from Regina. Global News' Andrew Benson has more on the family and supporters of the Bear family, all hoping for closure and dignity. Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy Check out the video at the top of the page for the full story. View image in full screen Richele Bear went missing in 2013. Andrew Benson / Global News
