3317 replies to this topic

[pontcanna]

Game On! Registration Now Open For NHL Street In Victoria

Victoria, BC – The Victoria Royals, VicPD and the Victoria City Police Athletic Association (VCPAA) are partnering with the NHL to bring low-cost, accessible street hockey to Greater Victoria youth this summer.

Starting Tuesday July 4, teams of seven youth in five different age categories, from ages 6 to 16, will face off as the local street hockey representatives of an NHL team. Hosted by the Victoria Royals in the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre parking lot every Tuesday evening over a four-week period, the teams will battle it out for NHL Street supremacy. This first year is a short season, with next year’s season expected to be a full eight weeks.

Registration is now open at NHLStreetVictoria.ca. With significant support from the Victoria Royals, the VCPAA and VicPD, the partnership means that this inaugural tournament is low-cost at $50 per youth. Each participant receives their own reversible official NHL Street version of their team’s jersey.

“Hockey isn’t just what the Victoria Royals organization does, it is part of how we build connections that in turn instill life-long skills of teamwork, perseverance and leadership,” Dan Price, the Victoria Royals General Manager, said. “We’re glad to connect our players in our home arena with young players to help mentor both hockey skills and life skills.”

“As a hockey fan, I am extremely excited at the opportunity for VicPD to partner with the NHL, the Victoria Royals hockey club and our own athletic association,” VicPD Chief Del Manak said.  “Our local youth will be able to play weekly street hockey games in a fun, non-competitive environment while wearing the logo and colours of their favorite NHL hockey team. I especially look forward to cheering on the team that chooses the New York Islanders.”

 

“Keeping the costs down so this event could be accessible to as many young people as possible has been really important to us,” VCPAA Executive Cst. Mandeep Sohi said. “We’re proud to be part of bringing this official NHL event to our community.”

The first NHL Street game in Victoria starts with a ceremonial puck drop at parking lot of Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre, 1925 Blanshard St., on Tuesday, July 4.

To register for a team, visit NHLStreetVictoria.ca. Registration is limited.

For more information on NHL Street in Greater Victoria, please visit NHLStreetVictoria.ca or https://www.instagra...streetvictoria/.

[pontcanna]

Topaz Park Enforcement Underway

 

Date: Monday, June 5, 2023 

 

File: #23-19532 

 

Victoria, BC – In response to community concerns and an increase in calls for service, officers with VicPD’s General Investigation and Outreach Sections are working alongside City of Victoria Bylaw staff, to conduct sustained bylaw enforcement in Topaz Park. 

 

Officers are conducting sustained enforcement in response to concerns from the community and significant increases in the number and severity of calls for service in Topaz Park in the first months of 2023.  

 

 

Calls for service to the Topaz Park area are up 60 per cent over last year. They are the highest they have been in three years. Many of these calls are due to concerns of public disorder, and assistance calls in which police officers are required to help keep City of Victoria Bylaw staff safe as they enforce City of Victoria Bylaws.  

 

In addition to the increased calls for service, officers are responding to concerns from area residents, sports teams, and other park users that the area has become unsafe. 

 

Officers and Bylaw staff have provided significant advanced warning to those who are sheltering in the park that they will have to remove structures, in keeping with the City of Victoria’s overnight sheltering bylaws. Many of these structures have become semi-permanent fixtures.  

 

The enforcement will continue on a daily basis for a sustained period in order to ensure those who shelter in the park overnight are prepared to follow the bylaws by removing their structures by 7 a.m. each day. 

 

 If you have a concern about safety in a local park, please call the VicPD Report Desk at (250) 995-7654 extension 1.  

 

[Victoria Watcher]

What a joke.

[Nparker]

I wonder if they could spare a little bylaw enforcement for the 900 block of Pandora.

[Mike K.]

Oh man, I was down there on the weekend. I didn’t know it was that bad along Pandora.

[Nparker]

I've actually seen it worse than this over the past few months.

[pontcanna]

School liaison decision should be based on accurate information

• Times Colonist
• 10 Jun 2023
• DEL MANAK

DARREN STONE, TIMES COLONISTVictoria Police Chief Del Manak suggests that instead of cancelling the police school-liaison program, police and those critical of the program should discuss the concerns in an effort to find a solution.

 

A commentary by Victoria’s chief of police who is a former school liaison officer and a BIPOC parent.

 

I am writing to express my disappointment in the Greater Victoria School Board’s decision to end the school police liaison officer program, and to address incorrect information that was provided during this decision.

 

I believe this decision is short-sighted and will do more harm than good; police officers proactively building relationships in schools is a positive program that is effective in supporting student safety.

 

The misleading and inaccurate information provided to the trustees clearly had an impact on their decision-making process, and I am, once again, compelled to correct the misinformation.

 

On May 31, leading up to the vote regarding this program, a trustee provided claims related to VicPD. Specifically, the trustee stated that in 2019, VicPD submitted 128 incident reports for arrest at school or on school property.

 

A review of our records reveals that only two youth arrests occurred at school or on school property.

 

The trustee also stated that in 2017, only four per cent of liaison officer reports involved a student-initiated file vs. a policeinitiated file, and that 30 per cent of the reports came from Esquimalt High School, “which as we all know has a large demographic of BIPOC students.”

 

These comments suggested that we targeted Esquimalt High or that their BIPOC student population was over-policed. These inferences are false and unfairly reinforce negative stereotypes about police officers that some in the community choose to amplify.

 

The evidence shows that it is not police officers who are initiating these actions.

 

More: https://www.timescol...rmation-7126344

 

 

[Mike K.]

It’s probably time to get rid of these boards. I don’t understand the purpose they serve, or why we need three of them in Greater Victoria.

It does, however, give us a sense of what would happen under amalgamation. And that’s that the status quo would continue, as Oak Bay, Saanich, Esquimalt and View Royal voted in this board, along with Victoria.

[lanforod]

The challenge is that who would run the school systems then? The province? No change. Probably makes things worse. The principals? Yikes.

[Mike K.]

Private schools don’t have these problems, and they don’t have political boards.

[lanforod]

They have appointed boards by whatever organization runs them. Which could be better or worse (usually better, because most private schools are run by morally driven organizations or churches). However, for public schools, that would mean appointment by politicians most likely. Hence, it’d likely be no change or could even get worse.

[Mike K.]

It can’t get any worse for our public schools now, if activism and politics have bled over into the school boards to the extent we’re seeing. Children shouldn’t be political pawns, but that’s exactly what these individuals want, and even encourage we change our voting laws to allow kids to vote.

[Victoria Watcher]

Alberta is the only province that permits charter schools, which in every conceivable metric outperform public schools.

Let that sink in.

[lanforod]

The NDP ever gets in again, they’ll do their darnedest to get rid of charter schools there.

[lanforod]

It can’t get any worse for our public schools now, if activism and politics have bled over into the school boards to the extent we’re seeing. Children shouldn’t be political pawns, but that’s exactly what these individuals want, and even encourage we change our voting laws to allow kids to vote.

I don’t disagree. I don’t see it getting better by dumping school boards though. I have no idea what the solution is. Me, I’m keeping my kids in private school, the cost sucks but the cost of public school on kids is far worse.

[Victoria Watcher]

Const. David Bratzer pulled into his driveway around midnight on May 10, 2019.

It had been a long day. After working his regular 10-hour shift as a homicide investigator with the Vancouver Island Integrated Major Crime Unit, he’d been called out to a suspicious death in Duncan. He thought his day was finished — until his phone rang again.

A young woman had been murdered at a home in Brentwood Bay. Two men were in critical condition in hospital after being stabbed by a man who broke into the house high on nitrous oxide and crack cocaine. Bratzer was needed at the scene.

“I’ve been a police officer for 18 years and, to this day, I’ve never seen a crime scene as distressing as this one,” the 45-year-old married father of two said in a recent interview.

“There was a young child in the house, in great danger, and her family did their absolute best to protect her. It really affected me because I also had young children at the time.”

Seven months later, Bratzer was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. In 2020, he was one of 579 law enforcement workers — including 115 police officers — who filed a psychological injury claim with WorkSafeBC.



https://www.timescol...th-ptsd-7128220

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 11 June 2023 - 05:18 AM.

[pontcanna]

TRAUMA BEHIND POLICE TAPE

 

A Brentwood Bay murder plunges a Victoria police officer into a struggle with PTSD

• Times Colonist
• 11 Jun 2023
• LOUISE DICKSON
•  
•  
• 

VicPD Const. David Bratzer was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder after investigating the murder of a young woman in Brentwood Bay on Mother’s Day in 2019. Bratzer, who was working as a homicide detective with the Vancouver Island Integrated Major Crime Unit, ended up being off work for eight months. 

 

Const. David Bratzer pulled into his driveway around midnight on May 10, 2019.

 

It had been a long day. After working his regular 10-hour shift as a homicide investigator with the Vancouver Island Integrated Major Crime Unit, he’d been called out to a suspicious death in Duncan. He thought his day was finished — until his phone rang again. A young woman had been murdered at a home in Brentwood Bay. Two men were in critical condition in hospital after being stabbed by a man who broke into the house high on nitrous oxide and crack cocaine. Bratzer was needed at the scene.

 

“I’ve been a police officer for 18 years and, to this day, I’ve never seen a crime scene as distressing as this one,” the 45-year-old married father of two said in a recent interview.

 

“There was a young child in the house, in great danger, and her family did their absolute best to protect her. It really affected me because I also had young children at the time.” Seven months later, Bratzer was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. In 2020, he was one of 579 law enforcement workers — including 115 police officers — who filed a psychological injury claim with WorkSafeBC.

 

Bratzer was off work for eight months. When he returned to work, first as a homicide detective, then as a Victoria police patrol officer, he began openly speaking out about his experience to help others recognize the complex symptoms of PTSD.

 

He did an interview with the police union’s True Blue podcast and took part in a WorkSafe panel with PTSD specialists.

 

“I talked about it because I was able to find a road back,” said Bratzer. “And a big part of the reason I was able to come back to work was the support of Victoria police, WorkSafe and a team of psychologists. Everyone from the rank and file to Chief Del Manak got in touch with me and let me know they supported me.”

 

‘Someone had to spell it out for me’

 

Looking back, Bratzer realized he was drained going into the traumatic murder, then worked throughout the night, 37 hours without a break.

 

In the days following, he waited inside the house for hours as forensic identification officers gathered evidence. He accompanied the young woman’s body to Vancouver and was present during the autopsy.

 

Away from the scene, as the investigation progressed, he was continuously exposed to forensic evidence captured on video and high resolution cameras, what he calls “terrabytes of trauma,” that investigators go back to again and again.

 

“Some VIIMCU files take place over the course of years, in some cases, decades. You’re just into it so deep for such a long period of time, it’s difficult to see the way out,” he said. Bratzer started coming in late for work. Even if he woke up at 4 a.m, he would be two hours late for his 7 a.m. shift. Or he would find a reason to leave work early. “I was suffering from avoidance from a psychological perspective, unconsciously staying away from something hurtful.”

 

More: https://www.timescol...th-ptsd-7128220

[Victoria Watcher]

That’s an interesting article. Did we ever find out how they identified the suspect in that Brentwood Bay murder and/ or if he had a connection to the family?

Sounds like if it happened today, he’d be on perfectly legal drugs.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 11 June 2023 - 05:08 AM.

[todd]

Always considered Bratzer the most respectable forumist on this forum, although the bar is low. I’m sure when you’re a caring person incidents like that can be much worse.

[Mike K.]

That’s an interesting article. Did we ever find out how they identified the suspect in that Brentwood Bay murder and/ or if he had a connection to the family?

Sounds like if it happened today, he’d be on perfectly legal drugs.

Unrelated. He went to the wrong home in his psychosis.