Oct
23
2009
VPD officers don’t support Insite: survey
Author: Jesse LobdellThe Vancouver Police Union initiated a survey to purportedly test public claims that police officers support Insite, the safe-injection site operating in the Downtown Eastiside. Results show that most officers don’t support the program. 53% believe it has contributed to the deterioration of the neighbourhood.
If there has been misrepresentation of police officers’ views, hats off to the union for clarifying this. Police officers ought to be free to praise, criticise or remain silent about Insite. But we need to ensure police officers are not attempting to influence public policy. The police can inform public policy, but too often they attempt to dictate policy. It is a fine line.
Tags: Freedom of Expression
October 23rd, 2009 at 8:47 pm
The police, who on a daily basis, deal with the addicts are amongst those in the best position to offer an opinion.
It’s as ridiculous as not wanting the police’s opinion on dealing with the gang issue!
October 26th, 2009 at 9:37 am
There have been times where the views of the police have unfairly influenced public policy, especially drug policy. We must be able to separate the valuable experience that officers have from their own personal views when evaluating programs like Insite. To be fair, the same goes for the staff of Insite, who heavily support the program.