Tag Archives: vpd

B.C. RCMP officers at centre of sharp rise in fatal police shootings

The family of Naverone Woods, a 23-year-old First Nations man who was fatally shot by transit police, is still waiting for answers about why guns were used.
The family of Naverone Woods, a 23-year-old First Nations man who was fatally shot by transit police, is still waiting for answers about why guns were used.

December 28 marks one year having passed since the death of Naverone Woods, a 23-year-old First Nations man who was shot and killed by transit police at a grocery store in Surrey.

On the phone from Hazelton, B.C., one of two Interior towns where Woods grew up, sister-in-law Tracey Woods said the family is still waiting for answers.

“We just want to have some kind of closure,” she explained. “And to know that there was an investigation done, that this case wasn’t just pushed aside.”

Tracey, whom a neighbour described as “like a stepmother” to Naverone, said she has questions about what efforts were made to deescalate the situation before force was deemed necessary, and why guns were used at all.

“We always compare it to a big grizzly bear that they will shoot, put to sleep, and relocate,” she continued. “How come they couldn’t use a Taser or something rather than drawing their weapons?”

Woods was the eighth British Columbian to die in a police-involved incident in 2014, according to a database maintained by the Georgia Straight. So far in 2015, that number stands at 11, the most for any year since 2009.

Last February, the Straight reported that a stark pattern emerged from an analysis of dozens of deaths involving B.C. authorities dating back to 2007: of 99 police-involved deaths investigated by the B.C. Coroners Service or scheduled for investigation, 90 percent involved a mental-health component, substance abuse, or both.

Now a review of that database updated for 2015 reveals another pattern: as deaths have increased, so has the frequency with which guns were involved in those incidents.

In 2015, there were seven fatal police shootings in B.C. That was up from five the previous year, two in 2013, four in 2012, five in 2011, three in 2010, and seven in 2009.

Six of those seven shootings in 2015 involved the RCMP. That compares to two during each of the years 2014, 2013, and 2012, and four in 2011, three in 2010, and five in 2009. Fatal RCMP shootings were geographically dispersed across the province. One exception is Surrey, where RCMP officers have shot and killed seven people since 2009.

Josh Paterson, executive director of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, said that, to an extent, the data simply speaks for itself.

“These numbers suggest a doubling of police-involved deaths in the last three years in B.C.,” Paterson told the Straight. “The number of people shot and killed by the RCMP have risen to the highest level in over 10 years. While these numbers don’t allow us to draw a conclusion as to why this is happening, they raise an alarm and require us to ask hard questions.”

The B.C. RCMP and the B.C. Ministry of Justice refused to grant interviews.

Steve Schnitzer is the police-academy director for the Justice Institute of B.C. He called attention to courses that focus on crisis intervention and deescalation tactics and how best to respond to emergencies involving a mental-health component. Those lessons were made mandatory in 2012 following the 2007 death of Robert Dziekański at Vancouver International Airport and the subsequent Braidwood Commission of Inquiry.

“That is a policing standard now,” Schnitzer emphasized. “It [training] changed significantly after the Braidwood commission report came out.”

Statistics compiled by the coroner’s service suggest that there is still room for improvement. According to the organization’s annual report for 2010, just 40 percent of coroner’s recommendations related to police-involved deaths were adopted by the agencies involved in those incidents (2010 being the most recent year for which such statistics were included).

Doug King, a lawyer with Pivot Legal Society, said there is one factor that can make all the difference in how a police encounter plays out: time.

“There is a huge correlation—based on our work and what we see—with police-involved shootings and first responders,” he said.

King explained that when police officers fire their guns, the weapon is almost always discharged by an officer who was first on the scene and during the first few minutes of a confrontation.

“To me, that indicates there needs to be better training and a greater emphasis on what someone can do to contain an individual until help can arrive,” King said.

The death of Naverone Woods remains under investigation by the Independent Investigations Office of B.C., a public body created in 2012 to examine police incidents involving death or serious harm. Once that review is complete, the case will likely proceed to the coroner’s service.

King said that investigation is one of three he’ll be watching in 2016.

The second, he continued, is that of Phuong Na (Tony) Du, who was killed by Vancouver police at the corner of Knight Street and East 41st Avenue in November 2014. The third is Hudson Brooks, a 20-year-old male who was shot by Surrey RCMP in July 2015.

“These three shootings are all really problematic, from what we’ve heard, and really beg explanations,” King said.

Follow Travis Lupick on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

This article originally appeared in print and online at Straight.com on December 23, 2015.

Varied takes on marijuana turn Metro Vancouver into a patchwork of unpredictable enforcement

Sarah Bowman was handcuffed by Burnaby RCMP after smoking a joint.
Sarah Bowman was handcuffed by Burnaby RCMP after smoking a joint.

Late one evening last February, Sarah Bowman was on her way home when she was approached by two RCMP officers at the Edmonds SkyTrain Station in Burnaby.

She had just smoked a joint, Bowman recounted in a telephone interview, but she didn’t think she was in real trouble. Bowman explained that she had a doctor’s prescription for the drug and had obtained it with that document at a medicinal-marijuana dispensary in Vancouver.

“I saw police officers making the rounds, so I threw my joint away,” she said. “They walked straight up to me, a gentleman showed me his badge, grabbed my hands, and handcuffed me without me even responding.”

Bowman sat on the ground as officers searched her bags. They didn’t find any marijuana and eventually located both Bowman’s prescription for cannabis and her dispensary membership card. But the RCMP officers dismissed those documents as irrelevant.

They argued that under existing laws, medicinal marijuana must be obtained via mail order from a certified Health Canada supplier. That is accurate (with exceptions) and remains true today.

On November 13, Liberal prime minister Justin Trudeau issued a mandate letter that stated the Ministry of Justice should “create a federal-provincial-territorial process that will lead to the legalization and regulation of marijuana”. But Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould (MP for Vancouver Granville) has yet to act on that directive.

Both the Justice Ministry and the RCMP refused to grant interviews. Cpl. Janelle Shoihet, a spokesperson for the B.C. RCMP, did however confirm officers are still enforcing cannabis laws including those that prohibit possession.

Dana Larsen is vice president of the Canadian Association of Medical Cannabis Dispensaries. He told the Straight that although the country remains in a period of transition on marijuana, municipal jurisdictions are policing cannabis as they see fit. Larsen suggested that situation has turned an urban region like Metro Vancouver into an unpredictable patchwork where some jurisdictions zealously enforce drug laws while others turn a blind eye to petty crimes like possession.

“In B.C., it totally depends on the mayor and the mayor and city council,” he said.

Bowman was travelling from Vancouver to New Westminster but stopped in Burnaby to visit her boyfriend. The Vancouver Police Department has long maintained it does not consider marijuana possession an enforcement priority. Meanwhile, in 2014, the New Westminster Police Department recorded a seven-year low for drug offences (going as far back as data is publicly available). But Burnaby is policed by the RCMP.

“They left me shaking uncontrollably and terrified,” said Bowman, who was eventually released without charges. “I used to think that police officers were there to help. Now, I’m paranoid. I’m afraid of police.”

Murray Rankin, opposition critic for justice and NDP MP for Victoria, told the Straightthat stories such as Bowman’s should serve as a warning. He said cities like Vancouver and New Westminster may not consider it a priority to go after someone with a joint but anecdotal evidence suggests the situation is different in jurisdictions covered by the RCMP.

“It’s quite a varied landscape out there,” he said. “We want a coherent position across the country.”

Rankin added that the situation on Vancouver Island is similar to that of Metro Vancouver. The City of Victoria (which has its own municipal police force) has tacitly accepted marijuana storefronts and is drafting regulations comparable to those Vancouver adopted last June. Meanwhile, Rankin continued, in Nanaimo (where the RCMP patrols the streets), marijuana is still getting people into trouble with law enforcement.

Barely an hour after Rankin’s call with the Straight, the RCMP issued a news releasestating they had executed search warrants at three marijuana dispensaries in Nanaimo.

Rankin acknowledged that legalizing marijuana—that is, creating a framework for sales similar to rules that cover tobacco—will be complicated and take time. But he argued it would not be hard for the federal government to decriminalize possession of small amounts of cannabis. Rankin noted the Liberals have discussed this as a likely first step, and he wondered when that will happen.

As few as seven percent of B.C. marijuana violations result in charges, according to a 2011 analysis published by the University of the Fraser Valley. But according to B.C. Justice Ministry numbers, from 2003 to 2012, police across the province recorded 173,157 offences related to cannabis.

Larsen emphasized that even without a charge, an apprehension such as the encounter with RCMP Bowman experienced is usually entered into a police database, where it can remain for years and create problems for someone when the apply for a job or travel to the United States.

Like Rankin, Larsen said he accepts that full legalization will likely be a long process. “But there is no reason to continue arresting people for possession,” he said. “Especially when those charges are likely going to be dropped in a few months anyways. What’s the point?”

Follow Travis Lupick on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

This article was originally published in print and online at Straight.com on December 2, 2015.

First Nations activist appeals Vancouver police dismissal of complaint

A review and dismissal of a complaint against the Vancouver police filed by Audrey Siegl includes many pages that are almost entirely redacted. Travis Lupick photo.
A review and dismissal of a complaint against the Vancouver police filed by Audrey Siegl includes many pages that are almost entirely redacted. Travis Lupick photo.

A prominent First Nations activist is appealing a decision by the Vancouver Police Department’s professional standards section (PSS) to dismiss a complaint she filed claiming abuse of authority and oppressive conduct toward a member of the public.

City sweeps Downtown Eastside vendors off the unit block of East Hastings

Before Monday, November 16, a section of East Hastings Street that runs between Carrall and Columbia was crowded with street vendors. But since that date, merchants have been kept away by an increased police presence. Travis Lupick photo.
Before Monday, November 16, a section of East Hastings Street that runs between Carrall and Columbia was crowded with street vendors. But since that date, merchants have been kept away by an increased police presence. Travis Lupick photo.

The City of Vancouver has finally cleared vendors from the unit block of East Hastings Street, officials confirmed in a November 17 meeting with community members and police at the Woodward’s Building.

Taking care to avoid saying that people are being forced to leave the area, the city made clear it will no longer tolerate the crowd that for years has congregated along the north side of the street that runs between Carrall and Columbia.

An email obtained by the Georgia Straight provides more information. On November 13,Mary Clare Zak, City of Vancouver managing director of social policy and projects, sent relevant stakeholders a note about the initiative.

“As many of you are aware, City staff (along with Park Rangers, VPD and Housing Outreach) have been working over the past months to find ways to address the subject of street vending in the DTES, most notably in the 0-300 blocks of East Hastings,” it begins.

“The objective of the Street Vending Task Force is to assist and facilitate the movement of street vendors from the Unit Block E. Hastings Street and surrounding area, to designated vending locations,” the email continues.

It states that beginning November 16, “you will begin to see a larger City presence in the DTES, including VPD officers, as we continue our efforts in the area to ensure it is a safe place for everyone”.

It appears three events aligned to create the right time and an opportunity for the city to clear the block of hawkers, many of whom survive off vending as their primary source of income.

The first, discussed in Zak’s email, is the city opening new sanctioned sites for street vending; those locations are 62 East Hastings and 501 Powell Street. Council approved these last June.

“The ability to better consolidate the activity, along with a thoughtful and constructive enforcement approach, will decrease and address unlawful vending taking place in other areas of the Downtown Eastside, including the blocks of East Hastings between Main and Carrall Street,” a staff report reads.

In addition, the Sunday market on Carrall Street between Cordova Street and East Hastings will continue to operate.

The second issue at play is what Vision Vancouver councillor Andrea Reimer told the Straight is an increased level of violent crime in the area and deteriorating health conditions on the block.

“There is not a desire to force anyone [to move],” she said by phone. “There is a desire to support the safest possible environment.” Reimer denied that the actions described in Zak’s email are about moving vendors off the block.

The third factor is the demolition of a building that previously occupied 41 East Hastings, at the centre of the block. According to a report that went before city council in September 2013, that site—previously a three-storey building housing a ground-floor bottle depot—will soon host a 14-storey social-housing project operated by Atira Development Society.

VPD Const. Brian Montague said the construction project will not leave room for vendors.

“There is going to be scaffolding there,” the force spokesperson told the Straight. “They are just not going to be able to be there anymore. So we are using it as an opportunity to encourage people to go to one of these three sites rather than making it a habit to go to that specific block.”

As the Straight went to press on November 17, city officials were still in the meeting with vendors and community members convened to discuss the project.

There at the Woodward’s Building, city communications manager Tobin Postma said there are now enough official locations for vending and so no longer any reason for unsanctioned vendors to line the block. VPD district commander Howard Chow confirmed that the force has increased patrols in the area. Addressing community concerns, Chow claimed that ticketing would not be used as a tactic for moving people along.

In a telephone interview, Roland Clarke, a coordinator for the Downtown Eastside Street Market Society, recounted watching the first day of the initiative unfold.

“There were at least five or six police officers visible on the block,” he said. Clarke added that they remained there for some time and their presence dissuaded people from stopping to sell goods.

“The city is rolling out a policy to really try and prevent the unsanctioned vending,” he concluded.

Clarke noted the market society has no formal interest in vending on the unit block but said it plays an informal role in keeping the peace in the area, given many people who occupy the strip are also registered members who participate in the sanctioned Sunday market on Carrall.

A video recorded on November 16 and shared with the Straight confirms Clarke’s account of November 16, showing the north side of the unit block completely cleared of vendors. When the Straight visited on November 17, VPD officers were stationed in pairs at either end of the block and for the second day in a row, the area remained empty.

Sarah Blyth is a member of the street market society’s board of directors and a former Vision Vancouver parks commissioner. She said the non-profit—which has more than 800 registered vendors—is trying to make the best of a bad situation.

“I think it is a push to get rid of the vendors on Hastings Street and to get them into 62 and 501 Powell,” she said. “The thing is, there is not enough space. So it’s really going to be difficult to do.”

Follow Travis Lupick on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

This article originally appeared in print and online at Straight.com on November 17, 2015.

CBC doc Hold Your Fire reveals B.C. police shot and killed 28 people experiencing a mental-health crisis

A new documentary scheduled to air on CBC examines a number of deaths involving police, including that of Paul Boyd (left), a Vancouver animator who was shot and killed in 2007.
A new documentary scheduled to air on CBC examines a number of deaths involving police, including that of Paul Boyd (left), a Vancouver animator who was shot and killed in 2007.

Research behind a forthcoming CBC Television documentary includes new data on Vancouver police encounters with people experiencing a mental-health crisis. It suggests despite progressive training, many incidents still end with an officer deploying lethal force.

For the period 2004 to 2014, investigative journalists Helen Slinger and Yvette Brend analyzed hundreds of coroners’ reports from jurisdictions across Canada.

In British Columbia, they found evidence police or RCMP officers shot 28 people who were experiencing a mental-health crisis, Slinger revealed in a telephone interview. That was out of 72 such incidents for the country as a whole.

The filmmaker added that according to a “very conservative estimate”, nearly 40 percent of all fatal police shootings in Canada involved either a person with a mental illness or an individual experiencing a mental-health crisis.

Slinger noted distinct themes emerged in those coroners’ reports.

The first was that when a police officer did fire a weapon, that usually happened almost immediately after they encountered a person in distress. The second was that training could be clearly traced to make a notable difference in outcomes.

“It comes down to what happens before police arrive at the scene,” she said. “If you are trained to approach with a command and control attitude, that could very likely backfire with someone in mental distress.”

The documentary is called Hold Your Fire. It was produced by Bountiful Films and is scheduled to debut on CBC Television as part of the network’s Firsthand program on Thursday, October 22.

The hour-long film looks at a number of police-involved deaths across the country. Those include the case of Sammy Yatim, who was shot by Toronto police in 2013, and Paul Boyd, a Vancouver animator who police shot and killed in 2007.

With video footage of those deaths plus interviews with family members, Hold Your Firemakes the case that neither young man needed to die.

“The police were the cause of the violence that night,” Boyd’s father says in the film.

Slinger’s findings mirror those of the Georgia Straight’s own analysis for British Columbia.

In February 2015, the Straight published a review of more than 120 coroners’ reports that dated from 2007 to 2014.

During that period, it was found there were 99 incidents where someone died in the custody of the RCMP or police.

Of those cases, the Straight determined 17 deaths involved a mental-health issue, 59 involved substance abuse, and at least 13 involved both drugs and a mental-health component. (The Straight’s analysis differed from Slinger’s in a number of ways. For example, in addition to looking at cases involving a mental illness, it also included situations where a person struggled with a serious addiction issue.)

Again echoing Slinger’s findings, the Straight’s investigation revealed that the first few minutes or even seconds of an encounter often meant the difference between life and death.

It’s those brief windows that Slinger focuses on in her documentary.

“We started out looking for that moment, asking, ‘how do you pull back?’” she said. “And what I felt was really obvious is it is how the particular unit goes to that call that makes all the difference.”

Slinger said if there is one message she hopes people take from her documentary, it is that police officers need to slow down when responding to an individual experiencing a mental-health crisis.

Hold Your Fire presents tangible lessons for how that can be accomplished without significantly adding to the risks that police officers face on the job.

While Slinger described the Vancouver Police Department as a force where there is “still lots of room for improvement”, she also said it stands “among the most progressive police forces in the country in terms of their programs for people with mental illness”.

She suggested what’s at play within the VPD and other departments across Canada is a sort of competition between old and new schools of police training.

For example, the documentary explains that in North America, many departments train officers to respond with lethal force if a person perceived to be a threat moves within 20 feet of an officer. That lesson, which can be engrained to a point where it can play out almost as a muscle reflex, can come into conflict with training for how one can de-escalate a potentially violent situation without using lethal force.

“Vancouver has kept moving in that direction with a number of programs that are very progressive,” she said. “I think it just hasn’t made its way through the entire force yet. But I do think things are changing.”

In 2014, Vancouver police recorded an all-time high for apprehensions it made under the Mental Health Act, a law that permits officers to detain individuals deemed to have a mental disorder and to pose a threat to themselves or others. Officers apprehended 3,010 people under the act, a number that has increased each year, up from 2,278 in 2009.

Follow Travis Lupick on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

This article was originally published online at Straight.com on October 6, 2015.

2015 stats for marijuana offences show police tactics changed before Vancouver’s dispensary boom

One of Vancouver's largest dispensary operators, Don Briere of Weeds Glass and Gifts, has said he welcomes the city's proposed regulations and hopes they will help bring the industry into the light. Travis Lupick photo.
One of Vancouver’s largest dispensary operators, Don Briere of Weeds Glass and Gifts, has said he welcomes the city’s proposed regulations and hopes they will help bring the industry into the light. Travis Lupick photo.

Over the last several years, the number of medicinal marijuana dispensaries operating in Vancouver has ballooned, from fewer than 20 in 2012 to more than 100 today.

That might have people wondering how police enforcement of marijuana laws has changed during that time, especially since the City of Vancouver lent a great deal of legitimacy to dispensaries when it proposed a legal framework for marijuana sales last April.

As the VPD turned a blind eye to over-the-counter marijuana sales, one might expect the department’s overall numbers for cannabis offences experienced a sharp decline.

But it turns out VPD enforcement numbers have barely changed at all.

During the first six months of 2015, the VPD registered 473 cannabis offences. Multiply that number by two and one can very roughly project 946 for the year.

That compares to 1,048 marijuana offences in 2013 and 864 in 2012.

This means the VPD is on track to record a very average number of marijuana offences this year, despite the proliferation of dispensaries likely giving many people the perception Vancouver police tactics have shifted.

(Numbers for 2015 were obtained via a freedom of information request. The Straightrequested statistics for 2014, but the VPD withheld that data citing a section of the Freedom of Information and Privacy Protection Act that allows a public body to refuse disclosure of information previously scheduled for release within 60 days.)

In a telephone interview, the Straight asked Sgt. Const. Brian Montague why it looks like the VPD is continuing to bust people for marijuana while letting dispensaries go about their business.

“The numbers might seem a little misleading until you explain the fact these aren’t arrests, they are not charges; they are criminal offences,” he said. “In the vast majority of cases where we come across cannabis, there isn’t a charge for cannabis recommended.”

When an officer does catch somebody smoking a joint, Montague said the most likely outcome would be for them to destroy the drugs but otherwise let that citizen go about their day. The encounter still goes into a police database as a marijuana offence (along with the offender’s name and related information) but that’s usually where the matter ends.

Montague explained what statistics for 2015 and recent years actually show is that the VPD changed its enforcement strategies on marijuana long before the dispensaries started showing up at the rate they are today.

“We ask, is a recommendation of criminal charges proportionate to the offence that is being committed?” he continued. “And a lot of times, the answer to that is no.”

On September 17, the Vancouver police board formally received a complaint regarding the department’s alleged failure to enforce drug laws against storefronts selling marijuana.

Ahead of that meeting, the VPD prepared a written response to those allegations.

“In the case of dispensaries, the VPD must consider evolving community standards,” it reads. “The City’s decision to create a regulatory framework rather than using its bylaws to shut down dispensaries; the prioritization of police resources when weighed against other more serious drug offences occurring in Vancouver, and the costs and benefits of taking enforcement action against marihuana dispensaries. As a result, the Chief Constable has decided that such actions will only be taken when there are overt public safety concerns present.”

It’s noted there that since 2013, the VPD has executed 11 search warrants against dispensaries when complaints against those locations were filed and found to have merit.

The police board dismissed the September 17 complaint.

After reviewing the data for 2015, Kirk Tousaw, a B.C. lawyer who specializes in drug law, similarly said it’s his experience that in Vancouver, very few of those offences proceed to see people charged with a crime.

“It is a maintenance of the status quo,” he said. “Enforcement of simple [marijuana] possession does not appear to be a high priority.”

Follow Travis Lupick on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

This article was originally published online at Straight.com on October 1, 2015.

B.C.’s top doctors place fentanyl deaths in the context of prohibition

Police warn that pills sold on the street as OxyContin can contain dangerous amounts of a synthetic opiate that’s 50 to 100 times more toxic than morphine.
Police warn that pills sold on the street as OxyContin can contain dangerous amounts of a synthetic opiate that’s 50 to 100 times more toxic than morphine.

It is not safe to use street drugs in Metro Vancouver this summer. That’s the message from police following another rash of overdoses related to the synthetic opiate fentanyl.

And part of the reason for that is prohibition-style drug laws that keep illicit substances beyond the reach of regulations that could save lives, health authorities told the Georgia Straight.

In a telephone interview, Const. Brian Montague emphasized that a problem once confined to heroin addicts now concerns recreational drug users of every sort.

“These are teenagers, husbands, wives, and family people with jobs,” the Vancouver Police Department spokesperson said.

Montague explained that authorities are finding fentanyl, a drug anywhere from 50 to 100 times more toxic than morphine, mixed with and sold as cocaine, methamphetamine, and ecstasy, and in fake pharmaceuticals such as pills labelled as OxyContin.

Montague’s warning follows the August 3 death of Jack Bodie, a 17-year-old boy who was found unconscious in an East Vancouver park after he took fentanyl sold in the form of a green pill. Bodie died later in hospital, while a 16-year-old friend narrowly avoided the same fate. Before that, on July 31, a 31-year-old North Vancouver man died of another overdose in which fentanyl is suspected. And on July 20, a North Vancouver couple in their early 30s died in their home after taking fentanyl. They left behind a two-year-old son.

In discussing these deaths, some of the province’s top health officials told the Straight they are open to unconventional methods to manage drug-use risks. Going further, they placed deaths linked to fentanyl in the context of prohibition, saying that existing drug laws are at least partly responsible for avoidable fatalities.

“We are in a situation where these drugs are prohibited,” said B.C.’s top doctor, Perry Kendall. “It is not helping. People are still taking them.”

In a separate interview, Dr. Mark Lysyshyn, a medical health officer for Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH), suggested overdose deaths could be avoided if illicit drug sales could be raised from the shadows.

“This is definitely a problem that a legal, regulated drug market could solve,” he said. “A legal, regulated drug market doesn’t solve every problem associated with substance use, but it does solve this particular problem where there is a drug contaminating the drug supply. We don’t see that in the area of prescription medicines because that is a regulated market.”

The same argument was made by Jane Buxton, harm-reduction lead for the B.C. Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC).

“Because it’s an unregulated market, people don’t know what the substance is in the drug they are taking,” she said. “If we had a regulated market, we would know what was in the drugs.”

None of the interviewees favoured full legalization of hard drugs, but rather a nuanced version of decriminalization that would involve heavy regulation. Buxton named Portugal as a working example, while Kendall pointed to New Zealand.

A July 12 BCCDC bulletin stated that a provincewide study found 29 percent of participants tested positive for fentanyl, and of those drug users, 73 percent said they did not consume fentanyl knowingly. It noted that the portion of B.C. overdose deaths tied to fentanyl jumped from five percent in 2012 to 25 percent in 2014.

On specific measures, Montague said the VPD is also open to less traditional policies that could help prevent deaths linked to fentanyl. For example, he said, police would not oppose drug-testing sites like those deployed at some music festivals.

“We’re not naive,” Montague explained. “The police can stand here forever until we’re blue in the face and tell people not to use drugs, but we know people will use drugs.…So if people are going to use drugs, we would much rather have them use them safely than die as a result of an overdose.”

He stressed, however, that he has concerns about the limitations that drug testing can involve.

Lysyshyn noted that the Downtown Eastside has struggled with an influx of fentanyl for several years. He recalled one particularly challenging weekend, in October 2014, when Vancouver’s supervised-injection facility, Insite, recorded dozens of overdoses that were later linked to fentanyl. Lysyshyn emphasized that not one of those incidents ended in a death.

“People who live in the Downtown Eastside, even though that is the neighbourhood where you see the most overdoses, we are not seeing the most deaths there,” he said.

Lysyshyn pointed to data from Insite and B.C.’s take-home naloxone (a drug used to counter opioid overdoses) program that proves such harm-reduction initiatives save lives. With those initiatives deemed a success in the Downtown Eastside, Lysyshyn suggested there’s no reason variations wouldn’t work in other communities around the Lower Mainland.

This article originally appeared in print and online at Straight.com on August 5, 2015.

Follow Travis Lupick on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.