The Vancouver Police Board has rejected allegations from a person claiming to be a Vancouver police officer who said the department has set quotas to arrest two to three people per day for drug offences in the Downtown Eastside.
The anonymous complaint was filed March 8 with the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner (OPCC), which did not dispute the complaint came from an officer. The VPD has since conducted an investigation and concluded officers do not have arrest quotas.
The police board chose not to challenge the findings of the investigation, and conclude the review of the complaint.
“After conducting a scan of VPD policy and training materials, there is nothing directing members to employ or adhere to quotas,” said a report that went before the police board in June. “Moreover, there are neither incentives nor consequences for employees should they either surpass or miss suggested performance measures.”
The report, which did not confirm or deny the complaint came from an officer, said performance measures exist and are a means to gauge “how police outputs contribute to achieving intended outcomes.”
“Regardless of any performance measure,” the report said, “the VPD is resolute that all police actions must be lawful, moral and ethical, and that performance measures never supersede a member’s ability to use discretion when appropriate considering the totality of the circumstances.”
Task Force Barrage
The complaint was filed with the OPCC less than a month after then-police chief Adam Palmer announced at a Feb. 13 that Task Force Barrage had been launched in the Downtown Eastside to dismantle organized crime networks and target predatory criminals.
The complainant alleged that VPD management had ordered drug arrest quotas for officers.
“I was always taught I had discretion and I should charge people when it made sense,” the complainant said. “But now it’s clear they don’t value their officer’s discretion and decision making and their [sic] setting quotas. I don’t think this is legal, or right.”
Officers recommend charges to Crown counsel, and don't charge people, as indicated in the complaint. Police aren’t saying whether that fact suggests the complainant is not an officer.
'Different opinions'
Before Palmer retired in April, that even if the complainant was a police officer, that he respected his or her views, saying it would be one person’s criticism out of an organization of more than 2,000 people.
“And if we have one person that’s not happy, I respect people—and they may have different opinions,” Palmer told reporters after the complaint first surfaced at an April 24 police board meeting.
“They may not think that we should be doing this project in the Downtown Eastside, and I’m OK with that, I’m totally at peace with it.”
The heavily redacted complaint also made an allegation against a VPD member, according to the OPCC’s letter, which noted the allegation “did not provide an evidentiary foundation to reach the threshold of an admissible allegation under the Police Act.”
Deputy Chief Howard Chow told police board members in June that the department’s data has shown a decrease in assaults, robberies and a disruption of stolen merchandise rings since Task Force Barrage was launched in February.
“I think that these are pretty significant and remarkable numbers that we’ve got so far,” said Chow, citing data that showed 962 weapons seized and 610 arrests on warrants. “I don’t think this is the time that we pull our foot off the gas. I think we’ve got to keep on going.”
The current budget for the task force is $5 million.
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