PSA to anyone who cares about keeping people alive in #yyj! Please email [email protected] to speak out about this motion to shut down our only safe consumption site. PLEASE. It will be up for consideration this Thursday at Council.

the Vancouver Police Department repeats specific "fear words" in their media releases, lets track that since the last civic election! "stranger" and "random" HERE IS A CHART

"expungement removes the punishment from the officer’s file and limits its use in future discipline. It does not erase the underlying finding, it does not let the officer pretend [it] never happened, and it does not shield the officer from being asked ... whether a finding of misconduct was made."

So...VPD posted an AI slop photo of a drug bust, deleted the post, and reposted a 'corrected' version of the photo. Thankfully the Tums turned into coins and the bills look more like legal tender. Cops using AI to generate politically-motivated content seems like a pretty big deal.

THREAD. I ask a lot of politicians and journalists if they should be detained in a jail cell away from their families if the government merely accuses them of a crime. I've never had one say yes.

There’s a #yyj police board meeting at 5:00 pm. The board is voting on whether to appeal Victoria’s decision to only let them hire 24 new officers this year instead of 26. Will follow along here. Agenda: www.vicpd.ca/Police%20Boa... Stream: www.youtube.com/@victoriaesq... #vicpdboard 🧵

There’s a VicPD police board meeting next Tuesday. The big item on the agenda: the police board is voting on whether to appeal Victoria’s decision to only let them hire 24 new officers this year instead of 26. www.vicpd.ca/Police%20Boa... #yyj 🧵

There’s a VicPD police board meeting next Tuesday. The big item on the agenda: the police board is voting on whether to appeal Victoria’s decision to only let them hire 24 new officers this year instead of 26. www.vicpd.ca/Police%20Boa... #yyj 🧵

I am just learning that "My Way" is a rewrite of a French song called "Comme d'habitude." It feels like this should have come up before, either through osmosis or as breaking news on TMZ. m.youtube.com/watch?v=kJl2...

The Old Court House is a significant heritage building on Victoria’s Bastion Square. It has been boarded up/closed for more than a decade. In the last couple years Ive been the lone voice calling for its restoration. That changed this week with a council motion from @susankimyyj.bsky.social /1 🧵

excuse me what "We are aware of a violent and unwarranted incident at a Vancouver public secondary school last year. An SLO drew a firearm and pointed it directly at an unarmed school worker who was locking up his bicycle on school grounds after arriving at work." bccla.org/policy-submi...

In April I wrote about VicPD’s “internal AI tool.” I said it might be a problem if VicPD is inputting personal info, asking about police work, or asking it to interpret the law. Yesterday, I got some records back that suggest they’re doing all of that. www.needsmorespikes.com/blog/vicpd-ai 🧵 #yyj

Oh these LLM's? The ones that fucking hallucinate? Amazing how the companies push this stuff on us and we don't even know what we are using Machine Learning is nothing more than an advanced internet search engine. These cops should be fired for incompetence. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

As a teacher, every prompt I put into copilot (which to date count up to... Zero) can be read by district human resources, why are police - which deal with far more records-sensitive information more likely to be needed in court - allowed to destroy evidence?

In April I wrote about VicPD’s “internal AI tool.” I said it might be a problem if VicPD is inputting personal info, asking about police work, or asking it to interpret the law. Yesterday, I got some records back that suggest they’re doing all of that. www.needsmorespikes.com/blog/vicpd-ai 🧵 #yyj

Today is international sex workers day! Remember: the best way to support people in these professions is to LISTEN TO THEM. They will tell you what they need. And they will tell you when your society is failing.

GVTA posted the late disclosure emails/texts re: SD61. Here's one. Province tells independent advisor a report was FOI'd. Fine. He then asks if they can tell him who filed the FOI, and an ED says if they find out more, they'll let him know. I'm sure nothing came of it, but come on now. www.gvta.net

"We need strong progressive voices opposed to police in schools on the SD61 Board of Education."

Some reporting on police in schools. "Officers in Texas displayed startling belligerence at times, grabbing or tackling students … over misconduct that often appeared to be minor. Children in elementary school, including one as young as 6, were handcuffed." www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

lol at a deputy minister trying to get photos of a trustee. Nearly a year and a half without elected trustees, great job. Deputy chief Michael Brown told the police board his time with VicPD was "a wonderful experience" when discussing his retirement the other week. What a note to go out on.

… We’ve some how chosen to do this to ourselves. right? we’re to blame for employing these people. #yyj #yyjpoli cheknews.ca/pedestrian-h...

Reposting this apropos of VicPD crashing into each other at Blanshard and Caledonia today, and shearing off a bollard at Blackwood and Kings yesterday. www.needsmorespikes.com/blog/2025/4/... #yyj

$1000 fine for alleged street vending. the cruelty is the point. www.policeoversight.ca/p/prefifa-po... bsky.app/profile/poli... #vanpoli

There’s a #yyj police board meeting at 5:00 pm. Will follow along here if the audio works. Agenda includes a financial update showing VicPD had a surplus last year. Agenda: www.vicpd.ca/Police%20Boa... Stream: www.youtube.com/@victoriaesq... #vicpdboard 🧵

The time to let systems create accountability is long past. In hindsight, it seems it was never built to function at all. So we’ll sue. I hope you watch. To get caught up, I’ve compiled critical work at the bottom of this ⬇️, by Jeremy, Adeline and others. 8/ drugdatadecoded.ca/for-immediat...

More good reporting here, finding Transit Police are violating policy to record immigration status checks. “People rely on [transit] and do not want to feel like they're under the threat of being detained or deported just because they're accessing public services.” - Hasan Alam, president of BCCLA.

“5.06 per cent of the ­overall tax hike of 7.28 per cent is the increase in police spending” #yyj #DefundVicPD

More Canadian cop culture. "A charge of sexual assault has been approved by the B.C. Prosecution Service against Const. Chris Kayiatos, who was arrested on Thursday." www.timescolonist.com/local-news/v...

The CBC reporter talking about Edmonton police using “AI” facial recognition cameras gives “being late to pick up your daughter because you were stopped” as a negative outcome of the tech - not, you know, being injured or killed, a far more likely outcome.

"Increasingly, other interactions with [VPD] often result in people’s immigration status being checked with CBSA—even in traffic stops or encampment clearing." ..."If someone is pulled over in a work van or truck, and an officer sees they have tools, they will sometimes ask for the workers’ papers."

This International Workers’ Day, we're putting media back in workers’ hands. De Facto Journalism Co-op is a new non-profit of 6 worker-owners producing in-depth journalism focused on justice issues and systems of power. To get our first investigations next week, subscribe here: defactomedia.ca

"Council’s motion identified concerns [...] regarding misinformation and the potential misuse of AI-generated content." side note: why did the Vancouver Police Board even need to employ AI when generating this low-lift tweet. are the handful of brain cells over there on paid leave?

I can get a place for May but I need to raise $1100 in two days. every bit helps e-transfer: [email protected] I appreciate your help so much

Police continue to use their police cars to intentionally hit people.

We can't tell you what the AI is trained on, for reasons.

“There is a consensus that police investigating police can no longer be supported as providing a fair and unbiased investigation. That certainly proved to be the case here,” said Schachter, who resigned from the police board in 2022. www.timescolonist.com/local-news/p...

“CTV News asked the department for an interview and for clarification on how the money was spent, but was told they would not be able to meet our deadline.” not okay not good enough!

How mad is the NDP at SD61's court win? Try to pass a law to say "nuh-uh!" mad.

There’s a #yyj police board meeting tonight at 5:00 pm. Former board member Paul Schachter’s complaint re: VicPD’s “Project Juliet” and more is sort of on the agenda. Agenda: www.vicpd.ca/Police%20Boa... Stream: www.youtube.com/channel/UCKK... #vicpdboard 🧵

There’s a #yyj police board meeting tonight at 5:00 pm. Former board member Paul Schachter’s complaint re: VicPD’s “Project Juliet” and more is sort of on the agenda. Agenda: www.vicpd.ca/Police%20Boa... Stream: www.youtube.com/channel/UCKK... #vicpdboard 🧵

"Remember when council voted to hire 24 officers instead of 26? What if we did 26." Motion failed, with only Alto and Gardiner backing. I saw Manak isn't going to run for mayor. Good, but Alto has staked out the pro-police line anyway. There's room for a progressive candidate, hopefully!

"After CBC News filed an access to information request for emails regarding facial recognition with body-worn cameras, EPS inadvertently released on Feb. 2 an unredacted version of the records to CBC News. CBC News declined a request by EPS to immediately delete the records."

As part of its budget, VicPD casually mentioned they’d created their own AI system. Via FOI, we now know they’ve told officers they can use it to write documents, conduct research, and ask questions about VicPD policies and potentially the Criminal Code. needsmorespikes.com/blog/vicpd-ai #yyj 🧵

Why do Canadians have to fundraise for basic things like healthcare, education, transit, and culture, when policing and the military always see increased funding?

As part of its budget, VicPD casually mentioned they’d created their own AI system. Via FOI, we now know they’ve told officers they can use it to write documents, conduct research, and ask questions about VicPD policies and potentially the Criminal Code. needsmorespikes.com/blog/vicpd-ai #yyj 🧵

"We’re paying for the propaganda that’s defunding our essential city services. The least we can do is notice."

They could never run the Adrian Dix weather vane ad today, because wind is clean energy.

10 people died at St Paul's in under three years, but they've "got to see whether overdose prevention services will be needed at the new St. Paul’s." bsky.app/profile/kwar...

“I do think that they’re using human trafficking language as a guise for what this operation is—which is anti-sex work. … This news release has really made it clear that the intent of this counter human trafficking unit is to target sex workers.” Angela Wu, Executive Director, SWAN.

There was supposed to be a #yyj police board meeting today, but it's cancelled. For the future, their new website says the public has to get to VicPD HQ before 4:30 pm (used to be 4:50 pm) to attend a 5:00 pm meeting. An exciting new barrier to public access for the worst public meeting venue going!