A political scientist is raising concerns about the Vancouver Police Union’s (VPU) new campaign to “keep public safety at the forefront” of the upcoming municipal election — four years after the union endorsed Ken Sim for mayor in 2022.
Earlier this week, VPU announced that they are circulating a public-safety questionnaire to major municipal parties, asking them to “explain how they would build on Vancouver’s recent progress, support front-line policing, and address the public-safety challenges facing the city.”
“When people do not feel safe, every other municipal priority becomes harder to achieve. That is why the VPU will be active in this campaign and why parties should be clear about their plans,” said Jason Chan, VPU’s president, in the release.
The police union said their questionnaire includes questions about parties’ public-safety priorities, police funding and staffing, recruitment and member well-being, mental-health and substance-use crises, street disorder, repeat violent offenders, bail, and School Liaison Officers.
In VPU’s press release, they also stated that Vancouver elected a mayor and council in 2022 who “promised to make public safety a priority,” and said they “followed through” by investing in policing.
“The gains of recent years cannot be taken for granted,” VPU wrote.
VPU’s decision to endorse Ken Sim and ABC Vancouver four years ago was unprecedented. At the time, they said that public safety was the “number one issue” of that election, and that electing Sim and an ABC majority would “ensure that police and other front-line responders will have the resources they need to protect and serve Vancouverites.”
Police are becoming partisan
Stewart Prest, a political science professor at the University of British Columbia, told Daily Hive that it’s clear that the VPU and certain members of the police force have decided to become involved in municipal politics in a partisan way.
“This is a real change from the way in which we are used to thinking [of] police operating in a democracy,” Prest told Daily Hive in an interview.
Normally, he said police have “ample opportunity” to weigh in on a municipality’s policy directions, through things like communications with the city bureaucracy, task forces, and reporting to the police board.
“But here we see the police actually holding policymakers to account for whether they are doing enough — by their views — to deal with issues that matter to police. But [it] also ends up affecting police funding and resources available to one branch of the civil service,” he said.
Prest said that police typically stay out of partisan behaviour like this to maintain a democratic society, where people feel free to express their political views without worrying about “incurring the displeasure” of the police, since they can use both coercion to enforce society’s rules and can interpret those rules to decide if an investigation is warranted or not.
“The police have enormous power in our lives as citizens, and to have the impression that they’re choosing favourites among the different partisan actors in the city, can make those looking to get involved in politics really uncomfortable,” Prest said.
Even if the police won’t treat people they disagree with differently, Prest said that the perception of this can lead to a “real chill on political participation and free expression.”
When the police engage in partisan debate, Prest said it can put pressure on all politicians to “fall in line” with what they’re asking for.
“Or risk being called out for being insufficiently attentive to issues of public safety.”
The VPU said in their release that they will share municipal political parties’ questionnaire responses, unedited, with Vancouver voters, as well as indicate which parties didn’t respond by the deadline.
Prest added that police can speak to public safety in an “unusually meaningful way,” but added that it is just one perspective, particularly on challenges such as drug addiction and homelessness.
‘Reversing the lines of accountability’
Police becoming more involved with politics has been a growing trend, particularly in the U.S.
“There is an erosion of that wall between the actors in society who have control over the means of coercion and the political processes by which we decide how to use those means of coercion,” Prest said, adding that it is “reversing the line of accountability.”
“Police are there to enact the priorities of duly elected government, not to decide who government ought to be.”
He added that it is ultimately a battle over resources, giving police a stake in how cities set their priorities — and the opportunity to access more resources, opportunities for promotion, and equipment.
It’s an honour to have received the endorsement of the union representing Vancouver’s Police.
Public safety is one of the most important issues facing our city today. Addressing big, complex challenges takes collaboration and a willingness to work together. #vanpoli
— Mayor Ken Sim (@KenSimCity) October 5, 2022
Since Ken Sim and the ABC have been elected, City Council has routinely increased the VPD’s budget, including an additional $46.2 million for 2026, even while other departments faced cutbacks.
Prest said that ABC has run current and former police personnel, as well as people with relationships with the police, for council. For example, Lorraine Lowe is taking a leave of absence from her role as vice-chair of the Vancouver Police Board while on the campaign trail to secure a city councillor seat for ABC.
“There is a strong affinity between the police services and one political party on a personal, individual basis.”
“Vancouver continues to face serious public-safety challenges, and the gains of recent years cannot be taken for granted,” stated the VPU. “The decisions made by the next mayor and council will determine whether the city builds on its progress and gives police the resources and support required to keep moving forward.”