Vancouver's mayor says he wasn't behind push for $5 million DTES police crackdown
"Coun. Fry's insinuations that direction for Barrage came from the mayor's office is false. To be clear, Task Force Barrage is a VPD-led initiative that I fully support," said Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim, in response to Coun. Pete Fry's filing of a freedom of information request for more transparency on the origins of the high-profile VPD campaign.
Fry filed the FOI after VPD Board Chair Frank Chong said the board wasn't aware of Task Force Barrage until it was revealed in a media announcement.
"We need to know that that authorization for police operations is not coming out of the back room in the mayor's office," he said.
"There seems to be no paper trail."
While Sim said Barrage is a VPD-led initiative, in April, the VPD characterized it as a "joint initiative by Vancouver Police and the Council". A VPD spokesperson said that was because council had committed to funding the project — but no formal vote has yet taken place.
As Justin McElroy reports above, the conversation around the proposal is inherently tied to larger conversations in Vancouver around public safety and the VPD budget.
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