P.O.W.E.R.

@policeoversight.ca

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Confiscations, public health obstructions, and perpetual displacement: Experiences and perspectives on urban law enforcement practices during a period of “recriminalization”
police bending over to search someone's bag- a near constant near Main & Hastings now
josie osborne lies we die
graphic of headline: Pre-FIFA barrage of policing public space Order maintenance policing can generate (publicly funded) disorder with image of police officers in red vests
Key findings The report analyzes more than a decade of maternal and infant health data and finds: Drug-related overdose is now the leading cause of maternal death among VCH residents. Nearly half of maternal deaths within one year of pregnancy were directly caused by overdose with deaths clustering in the first three months after birth.
Deaths of Individuals Experiencing Homelessness by Classification of Death, 2016-2024 Classification 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 Accidental 114 138 139 95 130 267 337 450 437 Accidental Unregulated Drug Toxicity 95 129 122 80 119 247 313 424 396 Other Accidental 19 9 17 15 11 20 24 26 41 Natural 30 11 20 29 11 24 22 29 44 Suicide 20 10 5 11 5 8 7 7 14 Undetermined 14 7 4 2 8 3 5 6 9 Homicide 5 0 1 3 3 1 10 3 3 Total 183 166 169 140 157 303 381 495 507
A poster reads: Medetomidine is in BC's unregulated drug supply and can be harmful, outlines steps to use substances more safely
In February 2024, one police board member quit, pointing to Lowe’s apparent conflicts of interest. Both of Lowe’s employment roles during her board tenure have been directing organizations (Sun Yat-Sen Gardens; H.R. MacMillan Space Centre) that rely on city funding, making it less likely she would oppose Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim’s direction.
“The optics are, ‘Oh, the police get everything they want,’” Vancouver police board member Lorraine Lowe said, shortly before she voted to endorse another $50 million be directed to the Vancouver Police Department from the 2026 City of Vancouver’s budget. But it’s not just optics—there is $497.1 million allocated to the VPD in the City’s 2026 proposed operating budget.
"In solidarity with sex workers interrupting criminalization" over graphic
text screenshot: The bust was conducted by Chilliwack RCMP, Emergency Response Team members and Clandestine Lab Enforcement and Response Team members, and used “several hundred thousand dollars” of funding from B.C.’s anti-gang task force the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit, according to the UFVRD.
Vancouver's Cop City Budget - Next year's municipal budget is set to allocate (more than) half a billion dollars toward policing
Police spending has ‘no consistent correlation’ with lower crime rates, new Canadian study says “I think a lot of people simply assume that more money for the police will mean safer communities,” said co-author Akwasi Owusu-Bempah. “We’re demonstrating that that’s not the case.”
top five suggestions for programs to reduce or stop- full text avail in shared link page 9
That’s been the strategy since 2006, when the agency recognized sending police to respond to overdose calls could deter people from calling for help during an emergency, VPD spokesperson Sgt. Steve Addison told The Tyee in an email. However, Police Oversight with Evidence and Research, or POWER, has reported how some officers in the Downtown Eastside have gotten in the way of harm reduction workers administering naloxone or first aid. POWER is a research project founded in 2024 by the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users and the Western Aboriginal Harm Reduction Society. Academic studies have also found knowledge of the Good Samaritan act varies widely among police officers, simple possession is still used by police as an enforcement tool, and police are confiscating drugs without arresting people.
Original Research “Street sweeps”: The municipal government-enforced confiscation of personal belongings among unstably housed people who use drugs in Vancouver, Canada
In April, police spokesperson Sgt. Steve Addison wrote to Deputy Chief Howard Chow and offered him a thread of posts he’d composed for Twitter, now the X platform, highlighting nine stranger attacks that had resulted in arrests. There was a visually impaired senior who was punched in the stomach, a woman who was stabbed in the leg with a hypodermic needle. “If you want it, we can help post it to your account,” Addison told Chow. “Good talking points, if nothing else.”
poster for international overdose awareness day - 12-3 oppenheimer for celebration of life for Elder Clint & 3p-6p block party 300 block hastings - logos for power, WAHRS, VANDU & CPDDW
seeking witnesses to an alleged violent arrest by vpd officers - july 23 at night - where: cheese slap restaurant (925 Granville, Vancouver, BC) see something? email power@vandu.org
“This is another way to criminalize Indigenous people, we know the jails are already full of my Indigenous kin. This is the continuation of a colonial framework to keep Indigenous people below the poverty line, criminalized and oppressed.” - Sparkling Fast Rising River Woman Elder Mona Woodward, Board of Directors, Surrey Union of Drug Users, Cree, Lakota-Sioux and Saulteaux from Kawacatoose First Nation
Review A scoping review of law enforcement drug seizures and overdose mortality in the United States
truth-telling early days of a police oversight project through a media fog P.O.W.E.R JUL 30, 2024
white block text on red and black background: BC NDP Kill Already Limited Safer Supply Program BC NDP know their witnessed safe supply policy will be fatal, but pursue it as they cave to right-wing rhetoric: Statement Read here: https://www.policeoversight.ca/p/bc-ndp-kill-already-limited-safer