3334 replies to this topic

[pontcanna]

West Shore officers say they’re also tied up with mental-health patients at hospital

4 Apr 2021

View Royal is backing Victoria’s call to reinstate special constable status for hospital security guards.

Mayor David Screech says West Shore RCMP share Victoria police’s concern that officers are spending too many hours at Victoria General Hospital waiting to hand over people apprehended under the Mental Health Act as a danger to themselves or others.

“It’s really impeding their ability to police our areas properly and it’s clearly the same as Victoria,” said Screech. “We feel it’s a huge waste of resources to have a constable guarding people in that setting.”

View Royal council has written to Mike Farnworth, minister of public safety and solicitor general, asking him to reinstate peace-officer status for hospital security guards. Council has also written a letter of support to their colleagues in Victoria.

 

More: https://www.timescol...ital-1.24302905

 

[pontcanna]

Oak Bay Police @OakBayPolice

Thanks to the resident that called in the explosive device he found washed up on the beach this afternoon. OBPD with assistance from Vic PD Explosives Disposal Unit safely removed and destroyed the industrial explosive.

 

 

 

 

 

[pontcanna]

Removal of police officers from local mental-health teams has some sounding the alarm

11 Apr 2021 - Jack Knox


Sue Hamilton, who retired from the Victoria Police Department in January after spending the final six years with ACT, was the lone officer in the job at one point. She says that won’t work anymore, not with the mental-health needs of today’s homeless and marginalized people.

It’s not just their own safety being put at risk, the women say. It’s the well-being of the vulnerable people they serve.

Will Victoria’s ACT teams even be able to keep working with some of their more volatile clients? Will the change push them toward crisis?

“It’s unsafe,” one woman says. “It’s a horrible, horrible idea, for so many reasons,” says another.

 

What they’re talking about is a decision to remove two of the three Victoria police officers attached to local mental-health teams. The move, effective May 1, has some current and former team members sounding the alarm.

 

More: https://www.timescol...cops-1.24305836

 

 

[Victoria Watcher]

as we know the city has imported hundreds of new residents with mental health and addiction issues.  it should not be a surprise all the teams trying to contain and help them are overwhelmed.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 11 April 2021 - 05:36 AM.

[Barrrister]

Many if not most obviously need to be institutionalized. What both the city and the province are doing is absolutely inhumane and cruel.  

[Midnightly]

Removal of police officers from local mental-health teams has some sounding the alarm

11 Apr 2021 - Jack Knox

hamilton.png
Sue Hamilton, who retired from the Victoria Police Department in January after spending the final six years with ACT, was the lone officer in the job at one point. She says that won’t work anymore, not with the mental-health needs of today’s homeless and marginalized people.

It’s not just their own safety being put at risk, the women say. It’s the well-being of the vulnerable people they serve.

Will Victoria’s ACT teams even be able to keep working with some of their more volatile clients? Will the change push them toward crisis?

“It’s unsafe,” one woman says. “It’s a horrible, horrible idea, for so many reasons,” says another.

 

What they’re talking about is a decision to remove two of the three Victoria police officers attached to local mental-health teams. The move, effective May 1, has some current and former team members sounding the alarm.

 

More: https://www.timescol...cops-1.24305836

isn't this the exact thing people have been yelling and protesting about... cutting the police budget "defund the police" and all those other tag lines  less officers more mental health

[On the Level]

Not directly tied to Vic PD, but is tied to some on council that will weaponize this article to their advantage:

 

 

Linda Bush's son Ian was shot in the back of the head at the RCMP detachment in Houston, B.C., shortly after he was arrested for having an open beer at a hockey game in October 2005 and giving the officer a false name.

 

The officer was cleared of wrongdoing by an inquest, an internal RCMP review and an inquiry by the Commission for Complaints Against the RCMP.

 

OK.....what exactly is this statement saying?  Ian Bush was shot in the back of the head because he had an open beer at a hockey game and gave a false name? 

 

"Was shot"  So you can either surmise that Ian's behaviour became a threat to others or the officers which resulted in the officer discharging his/her weapon....or as per CoV TV ACAB.....the officer came up in a threatening manner and was the instigator.

 

"In the back of the head"  So you can surmise that Ian's behaviour was a threat to someone else or was still a threat to the officer requiring use of force.......or as per CoV TV ACAB.......Ian ran away from the instigator and was shot trying to run to safety.

 

The TC used to be a bit left (like me) but factual and objective.  

 

https://www.timescol...-act-1.24307479

Edited by On the Level, 15 April 2021 - 08:07 PM.

[pontcanna]

Taser justified in case of man who put arm through glass door: watchdog

• Times Colonist
• 16 Apr 2021

A Victoria police officer acted lawfully last August when he tasered a man who then fell, putting his arm through a glass door and suffering a deep cut that required surgery, says the province’s police watchdog.

 

Officers were called to investigate an alleged domestic assault in a Victoria residence on Aug. 9, 2020.

 

When the first officer arrived, he learned there had been heated arguments between the owner of the residence and a man who did not live there...The owner asked the officer to help remove the man.

 

More: https://digitaltimes...vyOGTer88aOBfWi

 

 

 

[spanky123]

Not directly tied to Vic PD, but is tied to some on council that will weaponize this article to their advantage:

 

 

OK.....what exactly is this statement saying?  Ian Bush was shot in the back of the head because he had an open beer at a hockey game and gave a false name? 

 

 

Strange the article left out the part about Bush attacking the officer, putting him in a choke hold and trying to kill him.

[pontcanna]

Crime and calls to Sooke RCMP on the decline in February compared to 2020

Sooke RCMP share February investigation statistics

 Apr. 16, 2021

Crime was on the decline this February compared to last, according to statistics from Sooke RCMP.

At Tuesday’s Sooke council meeting, RCMP submitted a record of the types of calls and incidents investigated within the district, which included a comparison of February 2021 to February 2020.

 

More: https://www.vicnews....mpared-to-2020/

 

[pontcanna]

Calm, cool, efficient — thanks, Victoria police

Times Colonist - 20 Apr 2021

Last week I suffered a medical emergency at a busy intersection in Victoria. Fortunately good and kind people were around and I received immediate assistance.

My most heartfelt thanks must go to a young Victoria police officer who handled the situation in a calm, efficient and compassionate manner.

 

More: https://digitaltimes...hwzKxyqWJng8STi

 

[pontcanna]

Victoria police launch review of 1981 death in custody

April 20, 2021

 

Stanley Fischer (bottom left) at CFB Clinton, Ontario in 1958.

 

VICTORIA -- Forty years after a man was found dead in a Victoria police cell, the department has assigned an investigator to review the case.

Stanley Fischer was found hanging in Victoria police lockup in the early-morning hours of Nov. 15, 1981. The 41-year-old man’s death was ruled a suicide when the coroner determined he died by asphyxiation after tying strips of a torn blanket around his neck and hanging himself from the bars of his cell.

 

More: https://vancouverisl...stody-1.5395012

 

 

 

 

[pontcanna]

Saanich Police honour officer who died in the line of duty 61 years ago

April 24, 2021

Saanich Police paid tribute to one of their own who was killed on the line of duty 61 years ago.

Const. Robert Norman Barry Kirby was shot and killed by a 44-year-old escapee from Colquitz Provincial Mental Hospital on April 24, 1960.

 

On Saturday, a handful of officers gathered at the Royal Oak Burial Park to remember and honour their fallen colleague.

 

Const. Robert Norman Barry Kirby was shot and killed by a 44-year-old escapee from Colquitz Provincial Mental Hospital on April 24, 1960. The mental hospital is now the site of the Vancouver Island Regional Correctional Centre.

 

More: https://www.cheknews...ars-ago-773354/

 

Edited by pontcanna, 25 April 2021 - 02:17 AM.

[pontcanna]

B.C. murder cases in jeopardy as accused killer walks free, police slammed for ignoring law

The case revealed IHIT’s ‘egregious’ policy of not complying with search and seizure law, says B.C. Supreme Court judge

Apr. 24, 2021  

A British Columbia Supreme Court judge says the province’s homicide investigation team’s “systemic, flagrant disregard” for the charter rights of accused may impact hundreds of murder cases.

The police failure was uncovered in the case against Samandeep Singh Gill, who was accused of second-degree murder and attempted murder in a 2011 road rage incident in Surrey, B.C., that left one man dead.

 

Samandeep Singh Gill was acquitted last month on charges of second-degree murder and attempted murder after a B.C. Supreme Court judge excluded evidence that was key to the prosecution’s case

 

More: https://www.nanaimob...r-ignoring-law/

 

 

[Gipper]

B.C. murder cases in jeopardy as accused killer walks free, police slammed for ignoring law

The case revealed IHIT’s ‘egregious’ policy of not complying with search and seizure law, says B.C. Supreme Court judge

Apr. 24, 2021

A British Columbia Supreme Court judge says the province’s homicide investigation team’s “systemic, flagrant disregard” for the charter rights of accused may impact hundreds of murder cases.

The police failure was uncovered in the case against Samandeep Singh Gill, who was accused of second-degree murder and attempted murder in a 2011 road rage incident in Surrey, B.C., that left one man dead.

gill.png
Samandeep Singh Gill was acquitted last month on charges of second-degree murder and attempted murder after a B.C. Supreme Court judge excluded evidence that was key to the prosecution’s case

More: https://www.nanaimob...r-ignoring-law/

If this ruling stands the vast majority of cold cases will not be prosecutable. S.490 used to be ignored by police, crown, defense, and the courts. It requires police to go back to a superior court judge no less than once per year to prove why seized evidence is still required to be detained. The police also have to justify why the investigation is taking so long. There are no provisions for temporarily boxing up files for later cold case investigation.

There is also no provision in the section for preventing the suspect from being made aware of a seizure (such as during a covert police entry) although Supreme Court judge have used their inherent jurisdiction to waive the mandated notices and hearings.

I think the basic intent of the section is sound but it needs to be updated to be more flexible and it needs a cold case provision so that major files can be temporarily put aside when they've come to a dead end.

As far as IHIT goes, they were way understaffed and overworked back in the late 2000s. They would not have had the ability to file and argue these extensions at the time. Right now it is still a major burden for investigative teams. Provincial Crown was being overwhelmed by requests from police for help and now refuses to assist. DOJ has stepped in to help but they are getting overwhelmed, too.

[Mike K.]

But councillor Isitt says charges are falling therefore police budgets need to be pulled back.

[pontcanna]

VCPU  @VicPD_Union

A BIG thank you to our Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) officers for their work supporting a multi-disciplinary team that cares for those with severe mental illness and often substance abuse issues.

 

Due to resourcing issues, 2 officers will be redeployed next week to help support front-line operations. Their contribution to some of the most vulnerable in our community has been immense and is very much appreciated.

 

(L-R Cst. Haire, Cst. Ziegler, and Cst. Smith).

 

[Victoria Watcher]

so we have ACT teams in cowichan nanaimo campbell river and port alberni - and victoria.

 

https://www.islandhe...unity-treatment

 

why are all three police positions here funded (or were funded) by Victoria City police?

 

 

 

 

https://www.timescol...ents-1.24312487

Let’s back up a bit. Island Health oversees four multi-disciplinary Assertive Community Treatment teams — psychiatric nurses, addiction-recovery workers, registered nurses, social workers, and so on — who take an integrated approach to treating a total of 340 people whose severe mental illness is often compounded by substance abuse. The teams provide medical care, psychiatric help, access to housing and help managing medication and money.

 

 

The ACT model has been deemed so successful that other jurisdictions are copying it, and the provincial government just bumped its budget by $2 million, which will allow Island Health to add a fifth team.

There are — or were — three Victoria police officers assigned to the teams. Their inclusion troubles some people, the argument being that any police presence stigmatizes mental illness, linking it to criminality.

 

It’s true that very few ACT interactions require police involvement. Still, the non-cops on the teams say the criticism shows a lack of understanding of the role the three officers play in allowing the teams to serve the small minority of clients whose occasionally violent behaviour would otherwise condemn them to a revolving door spinning them from shelter to prison to hospital.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 28 April 2021 - 05:44 AM.

[Barrrister]

I have a different question. Why are these severely mentally ill people who often are drug addicts not institutionalized. Has everyone in government lost their minds and any sense of responsibility and compassion?

[Nparker]

...Why are these severely mentally ill people who often are drug addicts not institutionalized. ...

I am sure you already know this, but the blame can probably be laid here: https://www.justice....-dlc/ccrf-ccdl/