Vote Vancouver on safety: a wellbeing strategy, restorative justice, policing hubs
Vote Vancouver would write a Community Safety and Wellbeing Strategy with police, health providers and community groups, expand work to end gender-based violence, set up a restorative justice system, and turn Community Policing Centres into neighbourhood hubs focused on prevention.
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Public Safety: what the Policy Priorities says
Vote Vancouver's public safety page has a plan built around prevention and partners. Its first item is a Community Safety and Wellbeing Strategy, written with police, health care providers, non-profits, Indigenous organizations, businesses and community groups. The page gives no police budget figure. The party would expand the city's existing policies and working groups on gender-based violence, which it credits to a motion by Rebecca Bligh on a prevention strategy. It would also set up a restorative justice system. Restorative justice is an approach where people who cause harm meet with those affected and the community to repair it. The party ties this to what it calls Vancouver's commitment to become the first Restorative City in Canada.
For that system, the party would partner with Peace of the Circle to train city staff, work with Indigenous communities and leaders, and apply its Vancouver Test to future policies. Its last item would rework Community Policing Centres into neighbourhood hubs for crime prevention, referrals, youth mentoring and links to local services, putting prevention, education and support ahead of criminal charges. Council approves the police budget and funds city programs and staff training. The Vancouver Police Board directs the police department, so police work on the strategy and the policing centres would need the board's agreement.
4 COMMITMENTS
What the party says it would do
Community Safety and Wellbeing Strategy
Vote Vancouver would develop a Community Safety and Wellbeing Strategy in collaboration with police, healthcare providers, non-profit organizations, Indigenous organizations, businesses and community groups, to build a framework that best serves Vancouver residents.
- Who has the power
- City, with others Council can lead a city strategy, but the Vancouver Police Board directs the police, and health care is provincial.
Ending gender-based violence
The party would reinforce commitments to end gender-based violence in Vancouver by expanding existing policies and working groups, building on Rebecca Bligh's motion to advance a gender-based violence prevention strategy.
- Who has the power
- City Council City policies and working groups are set up and funded by Council.
A Restorative Justice System
Vote Vancouver would establish a Restorative Justice System in line with what it calls Vancouver's commitment to become the first Restorative City in Canada. This would include partnering with the Peace of the Circle to train city staff, working with Indigenous communities and leaders on restorative frameworks, and applying The Vancouver Test to all future policies.
- Who has the power
- City, with others Council can train city staff and set city policy, and the platform names Peace of the Circle and Indigenous communities as partners.
Community Policing Centres as neighbourhood hubs
The party would rework Community Policing Centres into neighbourhood hubs for crime prevention, community referrals, youth mentorship programs, neighbourhood engagement and connecting residents with local services, putting prevention, education and support ahead of criminalization.
- Who has the power
- City, with others Council can fund the centres, but police involvement in them is directed by the Vancouver Police Board.
WHO WOULD HAVE TO ACT
Where the power sits for this chapter
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Questions about public safety
What is Vote Vancouver's public safety plan?
Vote Vancouver would write a Community Safety and Wellbeing Strategy with police, health providers and community groups, expand work to end gender-based violence, set up a restorative justice system and turn Community Policing Centres into neighbourhood hubs (Policy Priorities, page 28).
What does Vote Vancouver mean by a Restorative City?
The party would set up a restorative justice system in line with what it calls Vancouver's commitment to become the first Restorative City in Canada. It would partner with Peace of the Circle to train city staff and work with Indigenous communities and leaders (Policy Priorities, page 28).
What would Vote Vancouver do with Community Policing Centres?
Vote Vancouver would rework them into neighbourhood hubs for crime prevention, community referrals, youth mentorship, neighbourhood engagement and links to local services, putting prevention and support ahead of criminalization (Policy Priorities, page 28).
Does Vote Vancouver have a plan on gender-based violence?
Yes. The party would expand the city's existing policies and working groups to end gender-based violence, building on Rebecca Bligh's motion for a prevention strategy (Policy Priorities, page 28).
Would Vote Vancouver increase the police budget?
Vote Vancouver's public safety page gives no police budget figure. Its plan centres on a Community Safety and Wellbeing Strategy built with police, health providers and community groups (Policy Priorities, page 28).
Who controls the Vancouver police?
Council approves the police budget, and the Vancouver Police Board directs the police department. Vote Vancouver's plans for policing centres and a safety strategy would need the board's cooperation (Policy Priorities, page 28).
ON THE BALLOT
The Vote Vancouver candidates behind this
Sources
Every commitment on this page comes from the party's own material, marked SAYS SO ITSELF. It proves what the party says it would do. Who holds each power is our own addition, from the sources listed after it.
- Vote Vancouver Policy Priorities SAYS SO ITSELFVote Vancouver · pages 28 · checked