A packed room of reporters and DTES residents take in the Pivot press conference.
On Wednesday, Pivot Legal Society held a press conference to publicize their official complaint against the Vancouver Police Department for what they deem are unfair bylaw ticketing practices.
The complaint, summarized here, revolves around a freedom of information request that revealed the vast majority of jaywalking and sidewalk obstruction tickets are handed out in the Downtown Eastside. This follows the infamous ticketing blitz of 2008 that became a major political issue in the run up to the 2010 Olympics. The VPD swore to tone down their policies but the numbers obtained by Pivot seem to show the complete opposite.
So what to believe?
The statistics in question are limited to just two offences that admittedly are more prevalent in the Downtown Eastside. Jaywalking occurs on the regular both at intersections and mid-road. Sidewalks amongst Hastings are full of “vendors” hocking their wares or merely setting up camp for the night. There’s certainly, by law, just cause for tickets.
The problem is that, by law, bylaws are broken routinely all across Vancouver. It would be unrealistic to ticket every citizen for every tiny offense, yet that responsible judgement seems to, by the numbers at least, not apply in the Eastside. The problem too is that these tickets are used by police officers to enter people into the database system as well as check for past incidents. Is it profiling? Well….
I don’t think the idea that the Eastside is a haven for bylaw offences is shocking but charging the poorest residents of the city hundreds of dollars for these offences seems quite counterproductive. It’s akin to when the bank charges me a $40 NSF fee for not having enough money in my account, fining me for being poor. Thanks guys, that’s really gonna help the situation.
And that’s the thing, ticketing people who cannot possibly afford to pay doesn’t help anything. It just creates mistrust at a time when Wally Oppal specifically mentioned in the Missing Women Commission of Inquiry that such practices are quite detrimental to helping the Downtown Eastside and the VPD work together on the bigger stuff, aka actual crimes. When you marginalize the poor, bad things tend to happen.
It’ll be interesting to see where this goes, how the VPD responds both publicly and privately. City council has already deflected this away, but you can imagine they’ll have a response through back channels. That’s the beauty of an issue like this, it can never go away, only managed. The Downtown Eastside: The Wire spin-off that never was.
The City of Glass 