Vancouver Cop Watch Hoodwinks The Public On CKNW!

I heard that Vancouver Cop Watch (VCW) would be on CKNW when they tweeted it out a couple of days ago. So, I emailed CKNW’s Susanne Hill and made sure she was up-to-date on the stories I wrote about VCW. I’d figured she had- as, the word on the street I’d caused quite a stir, but wanted to make sure.

I called into the show today, was on-hold during most of it- and, unfortunately, they didn’t get me on before time was up. This was a little disappointing, as the show was in need of some serious balance…

VCW sent Jennifer Allan to talk on the show, and was interviewed by CKNW’s Bill Good. The first mistruth was labelling VCW as “A citizens group that aims to improve relations between the Vancouver police and residents of the Downtown East Side.” Oh, really?

As you can see from the above image (posted in their Facebook page 2 days ago) – they certainly have a strange way going about doing it! Or, to the police like to be teased with doughnuts? How is this being ‘here for both sides’?

Jenn mentioned that CopWatch was created by PIVOT Legal Society- this was very interesting news to me. First, because an employee of PIVOT has done great personal harm to me (and PIVOT have ignored my plea for their help). But, also, because PIVOT has traditionally had a rather anti-police stance- starting back in the days when David Eby worked there:

Next, Jenn says that “We only take pictures when the police are getting out of hand”. Once again, a blatant lie- here’s an example of that:

And, here’s another:

There’s no indication and/or accusation in this image they posted on Twitter that the police had ‘got out of hand’. They were simply enforcing health/safety and licensing laws. A mutual friend tells me that Jenn is a good and honest person- if so, what encouraged her to misrepresent the truth to Bill Good like this?

They are joined in the third segment of the show by Ann Livingston- the head of the VCW related Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU). Ann shiftily changes the subject of the story from police violence/misconduct to complaining about when the police enforce basic laws like jaywalking and street vending.

Jaywalking, in particular, is a serious issue in Vancouver’s DTES. I’ve had more than one experience where I nearly hit a jaywalker on East Hastings, as have many people.

Somehow, Ann thinks it is cruel to try and stop people from killing themselves by walking into traffic. What’s up with that Ann? Personally, I’d find it rather offensive if they didn’t. And, the reality is, that if people were jaywalking under influence in other neighbourhoods, or running illegal street vending, they would also be ticketed and/or stopped. Perhaps they would also be arrested- why should it be different in the DTES?

After noticing that VCW had erased some of it’s more offensive Twitter postings last week, I was really expecting more from this interview today. It looks like I expected way too much…

 

 

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