VPD whistleblower says Task Force Barrage was ‘entirely motivated by politics’
April 23, 2025
City Councillor Sean Orr urges Ken Sim to put real public safety over political games
VANCOUVER, BC - In a startling complaint by an anonymous whistleblowing VPD officer to the OPCC (Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner), it is alleged that managers at the VPD have imposed quotas to scapegoat and arrest drug users during “Task Force Barrage” in the DTES for political reasons.
"I write as a VPD officer disgusted by the political [sic] motivated crack down that has been launched by the VPD. This is entirely motivated by politics," starts the anonymous VPD letter revealed in the Agenda of the upcoming April 24th Vancouver Police Board meeting. "Management sent an email that set an expectation that each team working [in the DTES] would arrest [REDACTED] on drug charges. [...] It's now clear that they don't value their officers discretion and decision making and their [sic] setting quotas. I don't think this is legal or right."
The complainant goes on to decry that there “…are not ethics or fair treatment of those of us doing the work. Instead we’re supposed to meet arbitrary quotas to keep those happy who lied to get to the top. [...] I write to you in the hopes you care and can make change that restores a focus on doing things for the right reason.”
COPE’s Sean Orr has been an outspoken critic of VPD interference in politics, with the Vancouver Police Union taking the unprecedented step of endorsing Ken Sim and ABC in the 2022 election. VPD leaders have refused to comply with Freedom of Information (FOI) requests they are legally obligated to address related to this time period.
Since taking office, Ken Sim and ABC have boosted the yearly VPD budget by $93 million. Vancouver spends more on police per capita than any other city in Canada. Evidence shows no correlation between increases to police budgets and decreased crime rates. Ken Sim is City Council’s representative to the Police Board.
“This officer showed integrity by reaching out to the OPCC with their concerns about the political misuse of Vancouver’s police department,” said Sean Orr today, “Police officers should not be pawns for political campaigns, and whistleblowers like this should be protected against retaliation by their bosses.”
Arrest quotas bear no relation to evidence-based policy and have been challenged by civil liberties and constitutional rights watchdog organizations worldwide. Recently, members of Congress and legal advocates have condemned the Trump administration's use of arrest quotas in enforcing its draconian targeting of migrants and U.S. citizens based on their political views.
"Stoking fear in the population and scapegoating marginalized communities for political gain does not make our communities, or police officers, safer,” added Orr. “Ken Sim must show integrity and keep police out of politics, and politics out of policing.”
Sean Orr won the recent City Council by-election with 34,448 votes, on a platform that called for restoring adequate funding to public services that have been cut back in part due to the disproportionate and ineffective increases to the police budget under Ken Sim and ABC.
Task Force Barrage, announced in February just days prior to Ken Sim and ABC introducing controversial former Police Union president Ralph Kaisers as one of their byelection candidates, added an additional $5 million to the police budget at a time where grants for school meal programs are being slashed, library hours are being cut back, green bin and garbage pickup frequency is being reduced, and needed community centre upgrades are being paused.
“It has nothing to do with serving the community and public safety which are why I became a police officer," wrote the whistleblower.
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Notes
The redacted complaint is publicly available in the posted Agenda of the April 24 Vancouver Police Board meeting. The complaint quoted starts on Page 66 of the Agenda and meeting package:
Washington Post on Trump administration’s use of arrest quotas in immigration crackdown: https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/2025/01/26/ice-arrests-raids-trump-quota/
