Episode 7: Stand Down

Image: Vancouver Police vehicles parked outside an overdose prevention site on East Hastings Street. (Photo: Alexander Kim)

The Vancouver Police say they’re for harm reduction, but everyone we talk to in the Downtown Eastside says otherwise. On Episode 7 of Crackdown, Garth asks the cops to stand down. 

Transcript

A full transcript of this episode is available here.

Alley graffiti with a public service announcement by artist Smokey D.

Alleys in the DTES are social spaces. (Photo: Garth Mullins)

Vancouver Police regularly park cruisers in alleys in the DTES. (Photo: Alexander Kim)

Three VPD vehicles parked outside the Vancouver Overdose Prevention Society on July 2, 2019. (Photo: Alexander Kim)

Justin Van Westen is an harm-reduction outreach worker in the DTES. (Photo: Garth Mullins)

Ronnie Grigg, also known as the legendary Narcan Jesus. (Photo: Garth Mullins)

Caitlin Shane, lawyer with Pivot Legal Society, at an action to establish a supervised consumption site in Maple Ridge.

Know Your Rights

The Pivot Legal Society has put together this handbook for people who rely on public space. It has basic information about your rights when you’re stopped by the cops, and what you can do.

Reading List

• Bennett, Darcie and Larkin, DJ (2018) Project Inclusion: Confronting Anti-Homeless & Anti-Substance User Stigma in British Columbia. Vancouver: Pivot Legal Society.

• Boyd, Susan (2018) Drug use, arrests, policing, and imprisonment in Canada and BC, 2015-2016. Vancouver: Author.

• Boyd, Susan (2018) Drug Arrests in Canada, 2017 (Addendum). Vancouver; Author.

• Collins et al. (in press) Policing in the overdose crisis: A rapid ethnographic study of the impact of law enforcement practices on the effectiveness of Overdose Prevention Sites.

• Pivot Legal Society (2019) Know Your Rights: A guide for people who rely on public space. Vancouver: Authors.

• Lupick, Travis (2016) Injection tent volunteers seek better relations with Vancouver police to help manage fentanyl crisis. The Georgia Straight.

• Lupick, Travis (2019) B.C. harm-reduction groups ask Mike Farnworth to reconsider top health officer’s report on overdose deaths. The Georgia Straight.

• McNeil et al. (2015) Area restrictions, risk, harm, and health care access among people who use drugs in Vancouver, Canada: A spatially oriented qualitative study. Health & Place 35: 70-78.

• Vancouver Police Department (2006) Vancouver Police Department Drug Policy (Adopted Sept 2006).

• Vancouver Police Department (2018) Regulations & Procedures Manual. Policy 1.6.28 (Effective 2006.06.29)

Credits

Garth Mullins is Crackdown‘s host and executive producer.

Crackdown is produced by Alexander Kim, Lisa Hale, Sam Fenn, Polly Leger and Gordon Katic.

Crackdown’s Editorial Board is: Samona Marsh, Shelda Kastor, Greg Fess, Jeff Louden, Dean Wilson, Laura Shaver, Dave Murray, and Al Fowler. Rest In Peace Chereece Keewatin.

Our scientific adviser is Ryan McNeil from the BC Centre on Substance Use.

Original score written and performed by Sam Fenn, Jacob Dryden, Kai Paulson, James Ash and Garth Mullins. Our theme song was written by Garth and Sam with accompaniment from Dave Gens and Ben Appenheimer.

Funding for Crackdown comes from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.