David Eby - Blog

Two great Olympic-related events are on the horizon, and those interested in security operations and the potential (or realized potential) for excess will likely want to check both out.

First, the B.C. Civil Liberties film festival on Wednesday night has just added the film Operation Gamescan to screen at the Granville 7. Show time is 10:30 p.m. for that one, the festival starts at 7. Details on the film festival here, but the news on Operation Gamescan is so fresh, we haven't got it posted yet.

Operation Gamescan was dearchived from the celluloid cellars of the National Film Board at the request of the BCCLA and shows the security preparations for the 1976 Olympic Games, billed as the largest peacetime military operation in Canadian history (sound familiar?). The film hasn't been seen since the early eighties, as far as we can tell. It just arrived by courier on Thursday last week, it's as fresh as something that old can be.

Second, Am Johal of the Impact of the Olympics on Community Coalition has somehow managed to assemble a panel including representatives of VANOC, the City, the ISU and the yours truly (beware the last minute cancellation by the powers that be) for Thursday, November 26, 7-9 pm at the SFU Harbour Centre Fletcher Challenge Theatre. Should be totally awesome, and I'm very, very keen to see how this goes. Facebook event link is here.

The Vancouver police issued a statement today indicating that they're doing their bit to keep policing costs down. They recognize the extraordinary financial situation the City is in, and they're tightening their belts and nearly buckling (pun intended) under the weight of massive cuts.

But they'll get through.

Here are the easy to follow facts of how the VPD is saving the city fistfulls of dough, culled from their plain language press release:

- Their budget is increasing from $190 million for 2009 to $196 million for 2010;

- They have filled the 96 new officer positions created this year, but will not fill 35 vacancies when people retire or get fired for shooting crawling, unarmed people in the head (just kidding, you can't get fired for that), resulting in a net gain of only 61 new officers;

- As a result of these major cuts, there will be "an impact on the Department's ability to deliver the enhanced standards of service previously promised."

As the odds are good you wouldn't believe me if I told you that a $6m budget increase, along with a net increase of 61 officers over a 24 month period was being reported as a cutback that would impact service levels, here's the proof.

If you'd find it hard to imagine that any municipal government department would enjoy a multi million dollar budget increase, and then have the temerity to issue a press release calling it a cutback, the press release from the VPD is replicated below for your reading pleasure.

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VPD 2010 BUDGET

DEPUTY CHIEF CONSTABLE BOB ROLLS

STATEMENT

Recognizing the extraordinary budget situation faced by the City of Vancouver, the Vancouver Police Department has agreed to a temporary decrease of 35 sworn members. This will be achieved not through layoffs, but solely through attrition and by increasing our participation with integrated policing units. These 35 vacancies are in addition to 20 civilian vacancies we are already holding.

Reducing the size of the Department by 35 sworn officers will not be possible all at once. Due to the unique staffing requirements of the Olympics and recent efforts to bring the Department to full strength, the reduction will be phased in as we progress through the year. This will mean 20 sworn positions will go unfilled in 2010. The full reductions will be possible in 2011.

It is important to note that the overall VPD budget will still increase from $190 million in 2009 to $196 million in 2010 and that we have achieved a net staffing increase of 61 sworn members out of the 96 approved by Council in 2008 after the Operational Review.

The primary effect of this budget reduction will be a postponement in implementing the roving Metro Teams. These Teams were approved by Council based on the Operational Review. Their purpose was to reduce response times across the City by placing additional members on the road during peak periods.

While these reductions in staffing will have an impact on the Department's ability to deliver the enhanced standards of service previously promised, the VPD will continue to provide a high level of service to the citizens of Vancouver.

It is noteworthy that we have experienced significant improvements in response times and crime stats over the last two years. We look forward to a continued economic recovery into the future and a realization of the full authorized staffing levels approved by Council from the Operational Review.

The Vancouver Police Department has confirmed that it has purchased an MRAD just in time for 2010, a slightly more compact version of the LRAD crowd control weapon, both of which are produced by the ominously named American Technology Corporation.

The LRAD is the squarish spotlight looking device just in front of your local law enforcement official in the photo to the left. The MRAD has roughly equivalent power and functionality but in a smaller unit size.

For convenience.

The VPD has two key media lines about its purchase of the MRAD/LRAD. First, that they didn't buy it for the Olympics. Second, that they bought it as a public address system.

To see what a public address system looks like, check out the SoundCommander 3500. It's at least $5-$10k cheaper than an MRAD (which runs $20-$30k at a minimum), and sends sound out in all directions so the "public" can hear the "address".

[Note: VPD announced subsequent to this post at a press conference that they purchased this device for $17k used. They "don't know" who they bought it from. See portions of the press conference yourself here. Many classic lines, like "As you can see, it looks nothing like a gun."]

To see what a public address system does not look like, check out the MRAD specifications and functionality. It is designed to send out sound in a "tube" at a specified target where sound levels drop off dramatically outside of the tube. Check out this great demonstration of the drop off effect of the LRAD, and how it was designed this way, in the linked Youtube video at 2:15.

No time to watch a video? Read about the drop off effect for yourself on the ATC website: "The directionality of the LRAD device reduces the risk of exposing nearby personnel or peripheral bystanders to harmful audio levels."

Right, and also reduces the possibility of peripheral bystanders hearing your "public address." If you had to design a device that amplified sound dramatically but was less effective at communicating with a large dispersed crowd, you'd be hard pressed to do so.

The other key difference between the SoundCommander and public address devices of its ilk and the MRAD is that only one can be used as a crowd control weapon to inflict pain on non-compliant protesters. Guess which one?

You guessed it, it's the one that wasn't purchased for the Olympics by the VPD.

For footage of the MRAD in "get the hippies" mode, check out this scene from Georgia, Vancouver's model of democratic rights, at about 1:10 into the BBC news piece.

As for the suggestion that the VPD didn't buy this for the Olympics, it's hard to even know where to begin.

Two years after the shooting death of Paul Boyd in the middle of Granville Street in Vancouver and the public finally has a decision about criminal charges against involved officers from the Criminal Justice Branch of B.C..

No charges, no trial, file closed.

This predictable outcome places the epic investigation of Mr. Boyd’s death from eight distinct bullet wounds directly in line with every police involved death ever in the history of British Columbia.

No criminal charges. Ever. Files closed.

Put out of your mind the following facts and you may have a chance of reaching the same conclusion as the CJB that the death of Mr. Boyd should not be put before a trial judge because there is no reasonable prospect of conviction for the involved officer. Note that these facts all come from the CJB summary of the incident provided to the media, not from the secret documents and reports that underlie the decision, many of which we may never see.

• Only one police officer, of the many who were on the scene during the incident, discharged a weapon against Mr. Boyd, and some of the involved officers apparently didn’t even deem Mr. Boyd to be a sufficient threat to require unholstering their guns;

• Police and civilian witnesses described the shooting officer as discharging at least four, but possibly five bullets into Mr. Boyd after Mr. Boyd was completely disarmed of his “bicycle chain” and after a fellow officer had yelled at involved officers to “hold their fire;”

• Police and civilian witnesses agree that the eighth and final bullet that hit Mr. Boyd hit him in the head while he was on hands and knees in the middle of the road;

• The shooting officer, whose version of events was given more than considerable weight by the CJB, gave a statement in which that officer said there were only four bullets fired (actual number: nine) and in which the officer said he or she believed Mr. Boyd was wearing body armour (he wasn’t) and standing almost fully upright when he or she shot Mr. Boyd in the head (not true).

Turn your mind away from all of these distracting facts and surely you’ll find yourself in the same position of the Criminal Justice Branch in finding that there was insufficient evidence to justify taking this police officer to trial. By ignoring these facts, you’ll see the obvious, that there is no reasonable prospect of conviction.

Don’t feel badly if you disagree with the CJB on first glance, as their conclusion took them two years of study and the advice of many experts to reach. A member of the public, overreacting to the notion of an unarmed man being gunned down on his hands and knees in the middle of the road at Granville and Broadway does not have the training or the education to be able to see through these confusing facts to the truth that such force is reasonable and not criminal.

To achieve the zen of the CJB about such facts, one must, as a CJB spokesman advised the media, “not focus narrowly on any particular portion of the evidence.”

Good advice, that.

Thanks to everyone who gave me the heads up earlier, just got around to listening to Rich Coleman on CBC where he takes a shot at yours truly, which makes my day.

"David Eby has never delivered a social program or a housing unit for anybody in Vancouver ever, he’s ever critical whatever government wants to do."

Zing. And almost entirely true given his government's record to date and my lack of interest in delivering social programs or joining his department.

Coleman also notes that he's (1) in the DTES about once a week, where he (2) finds that service providers tell him "It's better down there than it's ever been."

Can we get fact check on those last two statements please?

The world's most heavily publicly funded mega event is headed for a confrontation with what may be close to the world's least heavily publicly funded neighbourhood event.

In what may be the flashpoint for police/protester confrontation, or at the very least increase the ever growing stack of bad feelings about how VANOC has blown every single inner city inclusive commitment they've ever made (and some they didn't make but would have three years ago), the Downtown Eastside murdered and missing women march that takes place every February 14 is being asked to relocate to make way for Olympic traffic lanes.

Yes, you heard correctly.

The women behind the march have a description of the issue and their concerns, along with an online petition you can sign if you wish. Check it out here.

The Community Court has declined to dish the dirt on its first year. Did it actually shift anyone out of a criminal lifestyle driven by poverty and desperation and into drug treatment, mental health treatment or housing? Who knows! But you'd never guess that the results had been anything less than totally awesome given recent media reports.

"Recidivism? We totally meant to track that, I guess we just forgot. Hey, we did get 209 people into housing or shelter though. Which one, housing or emergency shelters? Oh, guess we didn't track that very well either."

Check out my blog post on the Community of Interest blog on the issue.