VicPD files an average of two use of force reports a day. And they use a weapon on someone, or threaten to use a weapon on someone, an average of once a day.

42 people died from unregulated drugs while in a medical facility between January 1 2023 and August 31 2025 in British Columbia Here is the list. Remember when people were complaining about drug users in hospitals ?

Stories about officers misusing police databases to look people up who they shouldn't are incredibly common. And yet, when I asked VicPD for copies of any audits they'd done to look for unauthorized database use, they said "no audits have been conducted" over the six-year period I asked about. (1/2)

Stories about officers misusing police databases to look people up who they shouldn't are incredibly common. And yet, when I asked VicPD for copies of any audits they'd done to look for unauthorized database use, they said "no audits have been conducted" over the six-year period I asked about. (1/2)

When I went to the energy ministry for a response to the story I was writing, I was told some of the info I'd received should have been redacted because it was commercially sensitive They asked me not to write the story or share the info They deleted the package from the public FOI request log

There’s a #yyj police board meeting at 5:00 pm today. Will try to follow along here. Not much to post about beforehand, as they’ve stopped posting detailed agendas with attachments. Public agenda: vicpd.ca/wp-content/u... Stream: www.youtube.com/channel/UCKK... #vicpdboard 🧵

Update: VicPD told CHEK the discrepancy between OT in its budgets and the FOI data is that its budgets also count "standby" pay as OT. That means that in addition to officers' base pay and $5.1 million in OT, VicPD paid out about $1.3 million in standby pay in 2024. cheknews.ca/17-vicpd-off... #yyj

A brief mention of an abusive relationship between a Vancouver police officer and a teen he met at school in a recent watchdog report shows a need for more transparency around the identities of officers who commit misconduct, says a civil liberties advocate. @kehyslop.bsky.social reports. #vanpoli

I heard someone mention Del Manak today! Here's a post on his time as chief. He spoke positively about an officer accused of sexual assault, "reamed out" a publisher, and said VPD handcuffing an Indigenous man and his 12-year-old granddaughter after they tried to open a bank account was justified.

While VicPD is asking for an $11 million, 14% budget increase in 2026, new FOI data shows that from 2022 to 2024, 48 VicPD officers made over $50,000 in overtime in a single year, with two constables pocketing over $100,000 in extra pay in 2022. www.needsmorespikes.com/blog/vicpd-o... #yyj #cdnfoi

City Council: “This is hard. Residents should bring forward concrete ways to trim the budget.” Us: “Ok. Dont hire 25 new cops.” Council: “Not like that!” #yyj #Defundvicpd www.timescolonist.com/local-news/v...

“The Lovejoy Trap is […] also frighteningly effective at packaging extreme inhumanity as being necessary “for the children.” It leapfrogs right over any discussion of the facts because it feels like life or death.” www.liberalcurrents.com/the-lovejoy-...

#yyj 🧐 Quite the conundrum. vicnews.com/2025/12/03/v...

While VicPD is asking for an $11 million, 14% budget increase in 2026, new FOI data shows that from 2022 to 2024, 48 VicPD officers made over $50,000 in overtime in a single year, with two constables pocketing over $100,000 in extra pay in 2022. www.needsmorespikes.com/blog/vicpd-o... #yyj #cdnfoi

A thread Tomorrow the premier of B.C. will announce that his government has failed the youth of this province and to address that, young people in trouble will be subject to indefinite medical detention.

Bollocks! Drug seizures lead to MORE overdoses. During Task Force Barrage, I reversed 3 ODs. At one, a cop threatened to arrest me for being in the way - after I saved the guy. Our Mayor is full of shite. www.ctvnews.ca/vancouver/ar...

This answer seems incorrect. Rejected financial analyst position is back, but they're calling it a "reclassification." "Electrification of the fleet," rejected as discretionary, is also mentioned. More ambiguous, there are probably also discretionary reserve transfers for retirements, also rejected.

A VicPD officer got a verbal reprimand for slamming someone's head into the ground after they were in handcuffs. I did some reporting on VicPD's use of force on people in handcuffs here. www.needsmorespikes.com/blog/use-of-... VicPD is trying to suppress releasing future use of force datasets. #yyj

“a [VPD] member attended a high school to provide a presentation on policing, following which the member exchanged emails with a female student regarding a career in policing. After the student had graduated high school, the two became engaged in an intimate relationship” opcc.bc.ca/wp-content/u...

There’s a #yyj police board meeting at 5:00 pm. Will follow along here. It’s the first time VicPD met the legal requirement to post the agenda a week in advance. Maybe the trade-off was “put nothing in there.” Agenda: vicpd.ca/wp-content/u... Stream: www.youtube.com/channel/UCKK... #vicpdboard 🧵

VicPD's 2026 budget proposal is outrageous and harmful. I've reposted my email to #yyj council here. I encourage anyone opposed to uncontrolled police spending to write to Victoria ([email protected]) or Esquimalt ([email protected]) to tell them. www.needsmorespikes.com/blog/2025/11...

It took reporter @kehyslop.bsky.social 21 months of FOI requests and pursuing a formal review of the VPD's denial for info to get the police to release the names of officers who currently staff Vancouver schools. thetyee.ca/News/2025/11...

VicPD's 2026 budget proposal is outrageous and harmful. I've reposted my email to #yyj council here. I encourage anyone opposed to uncontrolled police spending to write to Victoria ([email protected]) or Esquimalt ([email protected]) to tell them. www.needsmorespikes.com/blog/2025/11...

Watching The Fifth Estate's piece "The political war on safe drugs" then ran to throw more money at @dulfbc.bsky.social for having more backbone and sense than immoral people in power.

Here's a thread with an annual reminder that VicPD is overfunded and overstaffed. VicPD likes to say it's a special exception as a "downtown" police force, but they cost more per capita than every other department in B.C., including Vancouver. #yyj 🧵

When VicPD lost some 2023 budget items on appeal, the province said they "did not provide sufficient evidence to support the need." Here VicPD provided incorrect evidence to Esquimalt but says the correct number, down 89% from what they said, is evidence enough. cheknews.ca/vicpd-chief-... #yyj

Here's a thread with an annual reminder that VicPD is overfunded and overstaffed. VicPD likes to say it's a special exception as a "downtown" police force, but they cost more per capita than every other department in B.C., including Vancouver. #yyj 🧵

Victoria police overtime budget, alone, is more than most Victoria services get. Their funding is out of control. #yyj c.org/YJp9FN9MPX

Another way to make your voice heard: Let City Council know you want them to reject VicPDs proposed 14% budget increase, including hiring 25 more officers. Put that money into the community supports and services that actually keep people safe! www.change.org/p/reject-vic... #yyj #DefundVicPD

This is a frustrating narrative advanced by some councillors. Under the current council's term, Victoria and Esquimalt axed $902,000 from VicPD's 2023 budget, a 45% success rate that year. Pretty good! The province found VicPD couldn't justify those costs. But it meant councillors had to try. #yyj

My sci-fi dreams of waking up to a world where all crosswalks are marked drifts further away.

... It's sad to see us at risk, again, of losing solid well loved programs to austerity budgeting and the apparent black hole that is the Vic PD Budget.. *sigh* #yyjpoli #yyj - I wish we'd be FAR more creative with this then 'cutCutCut'.

The City of Victoria might slash grants and programs across the board to make up for one single line item that's roughly equivalent to everything being cut. Can anyone guess what that single budget item is, which apparently isn't even up for debate? One guess.

I don't believe that city councillors are increasing the police budget because the province would only do it anyway. Instead, I believe that city councillors are choosing to increase the police budget, and then saying the province would do it as a way to deflect responsibility and criticism.

I've seen it suggested that city council should approve the dramatic increase in the police budget because the province will step in and overrule them. City council should deny the increase rather than complying in advance. Make provincial politicians take responsibility if they want to.

Journalists shouldn't be charged commercial rates to file FOI requests. It's wild some jurisdictions (VPD, Squamish) are trying to administer the law this way, creating another barrier to access public information. #cdnfoi

In #yyj police are also defunding our cities like a vampire consuming the budget of other city departments. We need some councillors with the courage to stand up and stop this cycle of ever-increasing police budgets.

Yesterday's Last Week Tonight speaking to my interest in dead former premiers.

the police want $17,000,000 more for THIS YEAR'S budget something shady is happening with this process cc @isabellazavarise.bsky.social @copevancouver.bsky.social @onecityvan.bsky.social council.vancouver.ca/20251105/doc...

"ohno Imperial Walkers!" shit is bleak and if anyone could spare a few bucks to me out with basics, everything is super appreciated etransfer: [email protected] here is a GIF

The #yyj police board chair is quoted here saying the event "maintained fiscal responsibility." They are living in a different world. $22,000 could have housed someone for a year! Instead of spending money on things that keep people safe, city councillors let police burn money every day.

Sad to see #yyj likely raise the police budget while we watch the US reveal the true function of police. More police are not going to house the homeless, or make food affordable, or make housing affordable. More police are going to be used to make all that worse, and hurt anyone who opposes it.

A VicPD FOI trend. They said they wouldn't release records for this via FOI, because they would post them within 60 days anyway. They can do that, but it's notable because: 1) it's a technique to discourage use of FOI by taking away scoops; 2) it allows for a delay, should they choose to use it...

VicPD held a party for their outgoing and incoming chiefs this summer at Government House. They talked repeatedly about how much work it was, and the event seemed strange, so I FOI'd the costs. They spent $22,015 in public money on this event. 🧵 www.needsmorespikes.com/blog/vicpd-p... #yyj #cdnfoi

What it means: The SCC affirmed that ODs are a medical event – not a policing opportunity. When police arrive at the scene, no one is to be arrested for, charged with, or convicted of drug possession. Read the decision here: decisions.scc-csc.ca/.../en/item/...

One of the things rattling around in my head after yesterday's police budget meeting is when the new police chief talked excitedly about how through continued harassment by one officer, VicPD permanently displaced people from a park. To where? www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpX9... #yyj

VicPD announced they’re asking for a $90 million budget next year, up $11 million, or 14%, from 2025. Compared to just five years ago, that’s a $31 million, 52% increase. Outrageous! #DefundVicPD What would you do for the community with an extra $11M? defundvicpd.org/2026-draft-b...

reposting this for no reason in particular

The #yyj police board is presenting its draft 2026 budget at 5:00 pm. They want $90 million+, including 25 new officers. It would be an $11 million increase, or 14% (a 52%, $31 million increase from 2021). Budget: vicpd.ca/wp-content/u... 🧵 with highlights before the meeting starts. #vicpdboard