Core Services & Public Safety

Core Services & Public Safety

Vancouver has the obligation under law to provide for the health and safety of its residents. In the last four years we have seen the closure of a firehouse which resulted in massive work on the parts of some citizens to regain services by getting federal grant monies to reopen the fire station in their neighborhood. It remains to be seen how long this station will remain open.

Currently the police department has undergone such severe cuts that our newest precinct office on the east side has been closed. Office hours for assistance has been reduced to Monday-Friday from 8 to 5 p.m. at the West precinct office only so anyone wishing to conduct business had better be able to meet that demand on their time schedule. With a reduction in the police force the current services are short 13 officers who have handled over 61,000 911 calls in 2012 alone. Their own website has this statement on its front page:

 Staffing at VPD facilities will remain limited until the budget crisis is resolved so the VPD website is an excellent resource for information.

The following is a breakdown of the calls and services which were performed at the East precinct prior to it closing:

 

NRT East

This unit works out of the VPD East Precinct and includes 1 Sergeant, 3 Detectives that work cases involving Burglary, Fraud, Auto Theft, Street Level Narcotics, Serial Thefts, Robbery, Pawn/ Second Hand Stores, and Unlawful Firearms Possession and 1Detective that works Juvenile Gangs including assaults, robberies, harassment / intimidation, firearms possession, gang graffiti. This Detective works hand in hand with Ju-venile Probation.

2012 Statistics

Arrests - 198

Charges/crimes on arrests - 377

Other charges/crimes referred on non-custodial arrests - 200

Arrest warrants cleared  -165

Search Warrants written  - 32

Firearms recovered (July-Dec)  -12

Grams of heroin recovered (July-Dec) - 70

Grams of methamphetamine recovered (July-Dec) - 19.4

 

As a city councilman I would work hard to find ways to reinstate the core services needed for residents safety within our police and fire departments.