The Vancouver Police Department's Neighbourhood Response Team successfully pulled 210 weapons off the city's streets during its 42-day deployment this fall, according to police.
The statistic was released Friday, Dec. 18, alongside the full list of final results from the VPD's neighbourhood response team (NRT) initiative.
The team was assembled earlier this year in response to increasing street-level crime and growing citizen concern, following an October 2020 survey that saw 78 per cent of respondents admit they were worried about crime in Vancouver. That number grew to 84 per cent for people living in downtown Vancouver, while 46 per cent of respondents said at the time that crime in their neighbourhood had worsened.
Beginning Nov. 2, VPD officers and community safety personnel were redeployed from other duties to the new team, which was tasked with responding to street disorder issues quickly, before they escalated. To that end, NRT members' duties included responding to calls from the public about disturbances, suspicious circumstances, people trespassing, and mischief.
NRT 'able to get to these people and take these weapons off the street before anything escalated'
During its month-and-a-half-long mandate, NRT officers responded to more than 1,400 calls for service along Granville Street downtown, and in Strathcona, Chinatown and Yaletown, said VPD Const. Tania Visintin during a livestreamed press conference on Friday. It was during those interactions that officers managed to confiscate the 210 weapons, she added.
A sample of those seized weapons, displayed on tables in front of Visintin during the briefing, included replica handguns, knives, bear spray, brass knuckles and tasers, to name just a few.
"There is no doubt that those weapons would have been used in the commission of serious, and possibly deadly, offences," said Visintin.
"The aim of this team was to get to these lower-level calls—yes, these were not Priority 1 [or] Priority 2 calls, but these were calls of people causing disturbances, having street disorder. Men and women on the street would have these types of weapons, which eventually would lead to those Priority 1 and 2 calls."
She added, "Our members were able to get to these people and take these weapons off the street before anything escalated."
Sampling of the 200+ weapons taken off the streets by the Neighbourhood Response Team over the past 6 weeks. Targeted lower priority calls before they became higher priority. #ProactivePolicing https://t.co/ehDKBK5DA2 pic.twitter.com/iYAlc0dhJF
— Howard Chow (@DeputyChow) December 18, 2020
Making lower-priority calls a priority
Throughout the 42 days, NRT members also engaged with more than 300 people on the street, "checking on their safety and wellbeing while handing out dozens of sleeping bags and snack packs that were donated by various charities,” Visintin added. As a result of those interactions, 150 people were referred to shelters, and 15 people successfully obtained a shelter spot.
Among other notable calls NRT officers responded to was one case involving a man who was observed "walking with a long black taser baton sticking out of his cart," Visintin shared. While arresting the man for possession of a prohibited weapon, police discovered a second taser baton, as well as brass knuckles and prohibited knives in his possession.
Another example centred around "a young female who appeared to be agitated, flailing her arms, and running into traffic."
According to Visintin, responding NRT officers managed to find the female and calm her down. They discovered that she was just 17 years old and addicted to fentanyl. "She stated she was coming down from a multi-night drug bender and had not slept in three days," Visintin explained. NRT members sucessfully collaborated with the VPD Assertive Outreach Team in order to transport the teenager to the Providence Crosstown Clinic, where she was connected with a mental health team.
NRT members also saved a man's life after finding him "unconscious, cold, and stiff to the touch," while "slumped over a table with an empty pipe in his hand" during a routine patrol along Granville Street.
"Paramedics were called and the man was revived after Narcan was administered and he was taken to hospital for monitoring," Visintin said. "It is likely that the man would not have been found and saved if it were not for the NRT member conducting patrols."
The team "made these lower-priority calls a priority," said Visintin.
Though the team has collapsed for now, Visintin said VPD management is currently considering how it could "incorporate new initiatives" in the New Year "using the means that we have right now." For the time being, the local police force will return to prioritizing call responses, she added.
"As calls come in, we're like an emergency room. We do have to ... triage these calls," Visintin explained. "We're not trying to hinder people from calling us—we still want people to call us for those lower level crimes—it just might take more time now that this team has disbanded."
