Latest news with #TaskForceBarrage
CTV News
12 hours ago
- Politics
- CTV News
Vancouver Police Board learned about ‘Task Force Barrage' through mayor's announcement, chair says
The oversight body was unaware of a $5 million crime crackdown on the Downtown Eastside before it was announced at a press conference, the chair confirmed. An oversight body whose role it is to develop the Vancouver Police Department's budget, wasn't part of the approval process for a multi-million dollar initiative aimed at targeting crime on the Downtown Eastside. Frank Chong, the chair of the Vancouver Police Board, said the board learned about the $5 million dollar plan, named 'Task Force Barrage,' through Mayor Ken Sim's press conference with then-chief Adam Palmer in February. 'That was a notification that we found out at during the media announcement,' Chong said. 'And I think that what transpired was that there was a miscommunication and perhaps, some missteps with regards to process.' Chong said the board is working on rectifying what transpired. 'That was determined by the finance committee that there is a need for sharpening of that particular process, which will be discussed at our governance committee,' he added. Police Act The mayor's announcement, came after the city's budget was finalized. As outlined in the B.C. Police Act, the Vancouver Police Board is required to prepare and approve the provisional budget for the following year on an annual basis. Any changes to this budget, per the act, must be submitted to council on or before March 1 of the year to which the provisional budget relates. Chong believes the board did not breach the legislation. Mayor's response Typically, the approval process for an initiative such as Task Force Barrage involves city council sending a request to the police board, which would then discuss the financial implications. From there, if board members agreed they were wiling to adjust the budget, they would then give approval to the Vancouver Police Department. CTV News asked Sim in May, why a funding request or proposal was not sent to the police board for approval before the task force was launched. At the time, Sim said he didn't know. 'Look, I can't comment on what people know and didn't know,' he said. 'You're asking me to comment on what six other individuals knew. I'm not in their mind.' Critics such as Green Coun. Pete Fry and former board vice-chair Faye Wightman have questioned how Task Force Barrage was approved. Both have pointed to the lack of a paper trail and called it a backroom deal.
Global News
2 days ago
- Global News
Downtown Eastside restaurateur says he could make more dealing drugs on the street
The owner of a Downtown Eastside restaurant on a block with one of the highest crime rates in Vancouver says the irony of all the drug use, dealing and street disorder happening outside his doors is something he tries not to think about as he struggles to run a legal business. At the same time, stakeholders are urging the provincial and federal governments to step up and play a bigger role in tackling the root cause of the area's illegal activity, which continues to thrive. Before the Vancouver Police Department's (VPD) Task Force Barrage brought an increased police presence and foot patrols to Carrall Street near Hastings earlier this year, Calabash Bistro said co-existing with drug dealers has helped them survive for the past 15 years. 'The reality is, is that we've had to create a mutual respect between our business and all the business that happens out there,' Cullin David told Global News in an interview. Story continues below advertisement 3:11 Downtown Eastside business struggles to stay open amid rampant public disorder 'Sometimes they're the only person on the block who can deal with an addict who's literally just done their drugs but is now passed out in front of my restaurant.' The one block radius of Carrall Street and Hastings was known as a hot spot for loitering, street vending, drug trafficking and disorder, according to Insp. Gary Hiar, the commanding officer of Task Force Barrage. Area crime, Hiar said, has decreased since the dedicated police task force began targeting violent offenders and organized criminals on Feb. 13. Statistics provided by the VPD show violent incidents on the block are down 30 per cent from 137 in the period between Feb. 13 and June 15 in 2024 to 96 over the same four months this year. Common assaults have decreased by 40 per cent from 62 in 2024 to 37 this year, serious assaults are down 21 per cent from 34 to 27, robberies have been reduced 62 per cent from 13 to five this year and commercial break and enters are down 75 per cent from eight in 2024 to two in the same four months this year. Story continues below advertisement 'Looking at numbers is one thing, but if the perception is still that it's not safe, then we need to do more,' said Hiar, the commanding officer of Task Force Barrage. While he appreciates the extra police presence, David said it has also introduced new crews to the block, who are trying to take over as existing criminal networks are disrupted. 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 'We're always prepared, that you know, that squeeze on the core of the Downtown Eastside could lead to some disruption or some displacement, I should say,' Hiar responded. 1:54 New security cameras for Vancouver's Downtown Eastside In terms of shifting crime elsewhere, Hiar believes police are keeping a handle on it with additional resources on the outskirts of the area. Early Sunday morning, David said his cooks had a close call when dealers from the 'night shift,' who he said are often armed, drunk or high and much more dangerous than their counterparts on the day shift, attempted to stash something in Calabash's commissary after spotting police on patrol. Story continues below advertisement The tense confrontation that ensued between his staff and approximately 10 aggressive individuals was only defused, said David, when a dealer they know intervened. 'First and foremost, if those types of tensions exist, we need to be called, we need to know because we have the patrols in and around the area, and we're going to respond,' Hiar told Global News on Tuesday. Terry Yung, B.C.'s Minister of State for Community Safety and a former VPD officer who walked the beat in the Downtown Eastside for more than four years, said targeted enforcement of the area's criminal activity will continue, as well as addressing street conditions in the Carrall Street laneway between Hastings and Pender Streets. 'I understand the challenges and sometimes the fear of coming down here,' Yung told Global News in an interview. 'That's the reason I go to work in the morning and do this, because I do believe we can make a difference. Maybe not overnight to solve all the issues that we face, but we can make incremental progress.' The Hastings Crossing Business Improvement Association said it is supporting David and other businesses as much as it can with safety and security. 'No business owner should have to risk their life to keep their business open,' executive director Landon Hoyt said in an interview. 'What (David is) facing and what his staff are facing is extreme and something we've never seen before.' Story continues below advertisement 0:39 Task Force Barrage sees dip in DTES crime, Vancouver police say Hoyt said the province promised investment and change in the years preceding the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, noting Carrall Street was celebrated as one of the city of Vancouver's first separated bike paths, but said the community has since been neglected. 'This neighbourhood has not gotten what it deserves,' Hoyt told Global News. 'It's just resulted in abandonment, really, and a crumbling neighbourhood.' Hoyt said his local BIA can only do so much but has advocated relentlessly for the government to address the service gaps in the Downtown Eastside, including through a new Vancouver Agreement. 'Something that actually lays out and defines clear levels of responsibility for all different levels of government. That's something that would lead to change in this community,' said Hoyt. Signed in March 2000, the initial Vancouver Agreement was a five-year collaboration involving the federal, provincial and municipal governments. It focused on three main areas: community health and safety, economic and social development, and community capacity building. Story continues below advertisement According to a B.C. government press release, Vancouver Agreement partners announced more than $2.8 million on Jan. 21, 2003, for new programs aimed at revitalizing the Downtown Eastside economically and socially. 3:18 Retiring VPD chief reflects on policing the Downtown Eastside In April 2005, all three levels of government announced that the Vancouver Agreement would be renewed for a second five-year term lasting until March 2010. 'The Agreement's first focus is the revitalization of the city's Downtown Eastside, particularly encouraging local business attraction and retention, secure and safe housing, and support for residents with addiction and mental health issues,' stated an April 4, 2005, news release on its renewal. The Vancouver Agreement was not renewed after it expired in 2010, and the city of Vancouver confirmed there is currently no similar framework in place. Green Party Coun. Pete Fry said we are not meeting the root causes of problems in the area, and agreed the Vancouver Agreement approach needs to be revisited so all levels of government are brought in to look for proactive solutions. Story continues below advertisement 'How do we knit together federal policy, provincial policy, civic bylaws, policing, all those pieces?' Fry told Global News in an interview. 'We need to get everybody at the same table and figure out what are some of the tangible solutions because what's happening right now isn't working.' 'It makes me wonder what the heck I'm doing down here,' said David. The bistro owner told Global News it would probably be safer selling drugs on Carrall Street than trying to run a restaurant, adding he and his staff have turned down offers of $500 a day to work the block. 'To know that's the amount of money that can be made for standing on a corner while my business is failing, is so incredibly heartbreaking,' said David.
Global News
4 days ago
- Global News
Caribbean bistro weighs leaving ‘war zone' in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside
After 15 years of navigating what he describes as a 'war zone' of illegal activity outside his doors, the owner of a popular Caribbean restaurant has almost given up on trying to run a legitimate business in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. Running the gauntlet outside his restaurant to grab supplies from his commissary kitchen at the corner of Carrall and Hastings streets is an almost daily battle for Cullin David, who said he genuinely fears for his safety and that of his customers, staff, and business partners. 'My head's on a swivel,' David told Global News in an interview. 'I'm always looking over my shoulder.' 1:54 New security cameras for Vancouver's Downtown Eastside The co-owner and chef at Calabash Bistro said he's tired of dodging drug use, dealing, street disorder and violence on a block with one of the worst crime rates in the city. 'Killings, stabbings, knife fights. My business partners having to do their best to try and save a gentleman's life that they witnessed being stabbed in the chest,' said David. 'The amount of violence and just horrible things that we've witnessed is a lot for anyone just trying to run a restaurant.' When David opened Calabash Bistro in 2010, he knew he was on ground zero in the troubled neighbourhood, but said he was enticed by municipal and provincial promises of investment and improvement in the area, including greenways and tourist routes. Advertisement 'Those early days, we had a lot of optimism,' David recalled. The lease at 428 Carrall Street came with a cabaret licence allowing the restaurant to operate as a dance hall until 2:00 a.m., and David and his partners were eager to celebrate the Caribbean spirit and culture through food, live music and dancing. Over the years, he said Calabash became known for open mic nights and as a space to showcase independent artists and young people starting out. 0:39 Task Force Barrage sees dip in DTES crime, Vancouver police say 'We used to have lineups for dinner,' said David. 'We used to have lineups for dancing after.' But he said the neighbourhood never improved. 'It's kind of just steadily gotten worse and worse,' David said. Calabash was one of the first restaurants to launch a composting program, but David said its bin was taken away due to all the needles being thrown into it. More and more nearby businesses have shuttered, he said, and more and more human excrement is appearing on the sidewalk. While he's grateful there has been some recent movement on crime and crime prevention with the VPD's Task Force Barrage targeting organized criminals and violent offenders since Feb. 13, David says Carrall Street near Hastings continues to deteriorate. 'The risk to myself, my partner, and our employees has increased significantly, especially at night,' said David, who noted his staff were involved in a very close call this past weekend. At 1:40 a.m. Sunday, David said his cooks were moving items to the commissary space at the corner of Carrall and Hastings. When drug dealers on the block spotted police on patrol nearby, David said they attempted to stash 'something' inside Calabash's commissary. When his cooks stopped them and told them they needed to leave, David said the dealers became aggressive and began fighting his staff. Calabash's co-owner, Yonathan Hernandez, arrived, said David, and managed to corral the cooks in the commissary while he was left to face approximately 10 hostile individuals alone on the street. Yelling, pushing, and shoving ensued, according to David, and Hernandez saw one dealer place his hand on a gun in his waistband before another dealer from the 'day shift' saw what was happening and stepped in to defuse the situation. 0:48 Police officer set on fire in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside The incident, David said, began due to a police presence, but when things escalated, no one intervened. As a society, he said, we've all allowed the chaos outside his doors to thrive. 'The business of poverty is big,' David told Global News. 'There (are) a lot of people that make money from what's going on down here.' David said he would like to see a government approach that brings positive change for people struggling with mental illness and addictions. 'There needs to be some sort of holistic end game,' he said in an interview. 'Something that is actually helping people.' While David said the people outside his business are allowed to smoke drugs, drink alcohol, and listen to loud music at all hours, Calabash is fighting to survive. Over the years, adjustments were made to the wording of licences and David said the bistro's shifted from 'cabaret' to 'food primary with patron participation entertainment,' permitting live music and dancing until midnight. Still, he said, Calabash continued to operate as it always did with live music and dancing up to 1:00 or 2:00 a.m. until recently. Advertisement Late last year, David said the province started enforcing the rules to ensure DJs and dancing stop at midnight. 'We were kind of shocked to have inspectors come in and say, 'Well, nope, you can't do this and you can't do that and if we have to come back, you're going to be fined upwards of seven grand,'' David told Global News. 2:01 Long time DTES resident supports mayor's plan to clean up the area Before the provincial inspection, David said Calabash never had any issues or received any complaints. 'If we stop dancing and music at midnight, we'd be closed,' he said. 'That last two hours of business is one of the things that kind of put us over the top.' David and his partners recently took out a $15,000 loan and applied for a dual food and liquor primary licence, which would allow the restaurant to operate as a bar or nightclub, provided they have different hours of liquor-only service. But there's no guarantee Calabash will be approved. '$15,000 later, not only are we faced with the prospect of being denied the licence, we probably won't have any customers willing to walk through a war zone just to visit us,' said David. 'We're damned if we do, were damned if we don't.' In a statement, B.C.'s Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General said inspectors from the Liquor and Cannabis Regulation Branch (LCRB) have issued three warnings to Calabash Bistro over the past six months, involving alleged contraventions 'of operating contrary to licence purpose and permitting entertainment past approved hours.' No fine has been issued, and the LCRB confirms it has received applications for two changes to Calabash's licence and is working with the restaurant owner to process the application as expeditiously as possible. When asked if the province could give Calabash a break from any potential enforcement while the dual licence process occurs, the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General did not directly answer. 'In the meantime, the licensee must follow the rules of his licence, as outlined in the compliance meetings that have been held with the owner,' the statement read. Catering is the only thing keeping Calabash alive, said David, who had hoped to stay in the Downtown Eastside as a hub for the Black, Latin, and Caribbean communities. 'At the same time now, I'm weighing on if I can, if we can stay open, or save ourselves.' For the last two weeks, David said he's been trying to find some sort of positive light at the end of the tunnel, hoping he won't have to become a statistic before change occurs. 'That little light is dwindling, it's almost out,' he said. 'My mental health can't really take much more of having to come down and battle through everything just to open the door.'
Global News
06-06-2025
- Global News
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.
CBC
27-05-2025
- General
- CBC
Arrest warrant issued for accused in axe attack who failed to show for court in Vancouver
Social Sharing A Vancouver provincial court judge has issued a warrant for the arrest of Steven Henry Hall after he failed to appear for a scheduled court appearance on Tuesday. Hall, 30, is accused of striking a stranger with a small axe earlier this month before stealing his sunglasses. He is charged with one count each of robbery and breach of probation. Vancouver police patrol officers arrested Hall on May 13 after the 50-year-old victim was found bleeding from his face near East Hastings and Main streets. Two weeks before the alleged axe attack, Hall was found guilty of uttering threats to cause death or bodily harm related to an incident in October 2024. He was handed a one-year suspended sentence, according to online court records, while a second charge of possessing a weapon for a dangerous purpose was stayed. Records show Hall has been found guilty multiple times for breach of probation, with convictions for resisting arrest, break and enter, theft and weapons possession dating back to 2018. In 2019, CBC reported that Hall suffered injuries from a police dog after VPD officers witnessed him breaking into a house. The VPD credits "Task Force Barrage" as key in Hall's latest arrest. Task Force Barrage is a $5 million program to increase policing in the Downtown Eastside, Gastown, Chinatown and Strathcona. According to data released by the VPD, since launching in February, Task Force Barrage has seized 745 weapons, 79 guns and made 414 warrant arrests.
