We are fortunate in Vancouver to have a police force that is dedicated to community policing. Even so, in 2019, we had four police officer shootings in four weeks. To the department’s credit, they have made some sincere efforts to make changes as a result: looking at body cameras and better training, etc., to try to minimize future incidents. I applaud the Vancouver Police Department and the city for taking those steps.
However, in the wake of the current national wave of protests against police violence, it is imperative that we do more. We should not just be reactive to problems, but research best practices and implement those practices locally. It is great that we are going to have an independent investigation team to review cases where an officer uses deadly force. But it would be even better to have a community complaints office to hold the force accountable to discipline officers with a bad track record before they are potentially involved in a shooting.
I encourage Mayor Anne McEnerny-Ogle and all the city councilors to review the policy recommendations of Campaign Zero (joincampaignzero.org). We have a good police department that aligns with the majority of their policy recommendations. We could and should align with all of them.
