"It's disgraceful": Critic calls out tough-on-crime approach in Vancouver

Margarita Young/Shutterstock | ABC Vancouver

Are more cops and a tough-on-crime approach the answer to safety concerns in Vancouver?

A UBC law professor is pushing back against the rhetoric that getting tough on crime with more police is the answer.

The civic election put lawlessness and repeat offenders at the forefront of many platforms, apparently to address voter fears.

That approach seemed to have resonated. In 2022, Ken Sim was elected as the new mayor with a majority of the ABC Party on council. Prior to the election, he also received an endorsement from the Vancouver Police Union.

“The VPU feels safety is a right – for everyone. Electing @KenSimCity and a @Vote4ABC will ensure that police and other front-line responders will have the resources they need to protect and serve Vancouverites.”
–@rkaisers_VPU https://t.co/HQBloNM766 #vanpoli #vanelxn22

— vanpoliceunion (@vanpoliceunion) October 5, 2022

But, more than a year later, some experts have questioned the “tough on crime” approach and the financial impact this has on taxpayers.

Ben Perrin is one of those experts.

Perrin has written books on the topic and is a UBC Law Professor. He was also a former criminal justice advisor to former prime minister Stephen Harper.

He doesn’t believe the current system is working.

“It’s actually heartbreaking that we continue to treat folks who are really struggling in very harsh and punitive ways.”

ABC party in power

ABC Vancouver

Mayor Ken Sim and the ABC Party won on a platform that promised not only 100 new officers but also 100 new mental health workers to respond to crisis calls when the circumstances required a more compassionate, less forceful response.

Those police officers have been hired as part of an over $30 million increase to the police budget, and recently, the union won its fight to pay its officers the highest salaries in Canada, but those 100 mental health workers are nowhere to be found.

We spoke to Vancouver’s mayor about that in November when he urged patience from residents regarding tough issues in the city as he marked one year in office.

“We have a lot of work to do on that file,” Sim told Daily Hive.

ABC Vancouver

“We rely on the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority. They took our plan, and they tweaked it. So instead of hiring 100 mental health nurses, they said the plan that works is 58 mental health workers. We’ve hired about ten people right now so far.”

He added that one of those hires was triaging calls in the VPD command center.

“It’s disgraceful. It’s embarrassing,” Perrin said.

Perrin is dismayed that a city like Vancouver, dealing with its myriad of issues, does not have a crisis response team or something more substantial.

“The only conclusion I’m left with is it’s a bait and switch, and I just wonder how long ago they planned that. The cynical part of me says that was part of the plan,” he said. “The non-cynical part of me says they moved ahead too quickly with the police piece.”

“Either way, it’s unacceptable.”

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Should Vancouver follow Oregon’s approach?

Government of Oregon/CAHOOTS

“It’s incredible to me that Vancouver does not yet have a 24/7 non-police mobile crisis response team,” Perrin told Daily Hive.

Perrin pointed out that other jurisdictions have shown that it’s possible to implement programs like the Crisis Assistance Helping Out On The Streets (CAHOOTS) program in Eugene, Oregon.

CAHOOTS supports the Eugene Police Department, and Perrin says that the City of Vancouver not having a program like this makes no sense.

In 2021, CAHOOTS responded to over 16,000 calls, which diverted 3% to 8% of calls away from police, allowing officers to focus on more pressing or dangerous matters in some cases. Members have a radio to call for backup in case they need it.

A decline in violent crime?

Vancouver Police patrol vehicle in the Downtown Eastside. (Adam Melnyk/Shutterstock)

Some other critics have questioned whether funding more police is the answer. Especially if the need for more officers doesn’t align with the current crime data, which shows a decrease in violent crime and that even property crimes have remained below pre-pandemic levels.

“Despite an unprecedented handout of $20 million per year on top of annual funding increases and all of the tough-on-crime rhetoric since they were elected, ABC’s government has seen a substantial YTD increase in crime across every category and across every district,” a user claimed on X.

Critics were quick to point out that the stranger attacks in the city had also quietly decreased significantly.

“Follow-up analysis suggests that there has been a steady decline in unprovoked stranger assaults since 2021,” the force said in a report to the police board posted online on November 23.

Back in 2021, the VPD shared statistics that indicated four people a day were victims of random, unprovoked attacks in Vancouver.

EJ Nickerson/Shutterstock

Now, that figure is down to 1.1 for the first half of 2023.

However, despite a decrease in attacks, there continued to be many conversations about the problem. Some have claimed that the timeline of these stats suggests that the VPD was fear-mongering ahead of the 2022 election.

Others have also brought attention to the fact that after the election, reports of violent crime and stranger attacks stopped being so prevalent.

Hey what happened to all the lead stories about stranger attacks, vandalism & general mayhem in downtown Vancouver? After Ken Sim won it seems that all crime was solved over night. Can’t understand how that happened because he hasn’t hired his 100 cops yet but I’m glad for YVR.🤷🏻‍♂️

— Tiger Wolfe OFFICIAL (@TigerxWolfe) October 20, 2022

“Is it problematic that the body responsible for collecting and disseminating crime stats was also actively engaged in the last municipal political and promoted a narrative that Vancouver is ‘dying.’ Just a thought,” another person said on X.

From September 2022 until the election date of October 15, 2022, we counted 38 VPD press releases related to violent crime. Post-election until December 1, that number was halved.

VPD responds to concerns about crime reporting

Margarita Young/Shutterstock

“It wasn’t just the stats – these claims dismiss the real concerns people were having who live in Vancouver and who were affected by crime. Businesses owners were having their windows smashed, people were having their catalytic converters ripped off their cars, the random stranger assaults, stabbings, coffee throwings, hate crimes – just some to name a few,” VPD Constable Tania Visintin told Daily Hive.

She said suggestions that social media posts are being put out to support a crime-ridden narrative aren’t only unfair but not true.

“Citizens have a right to timely and accurate information about public safety issues in their city. We will always strive to be as open and transparent as we legally can. We’re talking about people’s lives and their personal safety. We present facts because people deserve transparency from public agencies, and they deserve to know what the police department is doing to keep them safe and that offenders are apprehended.”

The next steps

Hastings Street encampment in the Downtown Eastside. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

Perrin’s latest book, Indictment: The Criminal Justice System on Trial, examines if we need more cops, not only in BC but across the country, where he spoke with marginalized groups and stakeholders on the need for a transformative approach.

Ultimately, Perrin is calling for a more compassionate approach to how the city deals with these issues. He also spoke about what businesses are forced to do when dealing with homeless community members at their storefronts.

“Right now, their options are to try to deal with it themselves, which a lot of them do, and sometimes very compassionately, or hire security guards if they have the money for that, or call 911 or the non-emergency police line,” Perrin told Daily Hive.

He added that right now, the default is usually an armed officer showing up.

Perrin argues that people who are suffering from mental health distress and who are victims of abuses of force by law enforcement are not anomalies, representing a systemic problem.

“We’re investing more money in 100 new police officers, which does not address the actual problem itself.”

Do you agree with his view on crime in Vancouver? Let us know in the comments.

With files from Kenneth Chan and Megan Devlin

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