Hands up, all those residents who know there is such a body as the Vancouver Police Board.
OK, so there are a few of you.
Hands up, all of those residents who can describe what the police board actually does.
OK, so not as many.
Quite simply, the police board is the governing body for the Vancouver Police Department and is responsible for hiring and - if necessary -firing the chief.
Typically, the board deals with a lot of policy stuff, too.
For example, the Pivot Legal Society was at the board's last public meeting to ask why so many jaywalking tickets were handed out to residents in the Downtown Eastside.
The police board is expected to get an answer at a future meeting. Depending on the answer, the board could decide a policy change is needed or allow the practice to continue.
Mayor Gregor Robertson doubles as chairperson and he leads six other people appointed by the provincial and city governments. Board members usually have a background in law and business and are said to be chosen to reflect the demographics of the community.
Now before this entry turns into a brochure for the police board, here's what I really wanted to tell you: democracy is going down the sewer pipe.
Maybe that's a little harsh.
But let it be known the police board will provide less opportunity for the public to turn up to its meetings, which means fewer opportunities to speak to the board.
The board has decided it can do away with its meetings in March and December, dropping the number of annual public meetings from 10 to eight.
Why?
"The March meeting has been historically challenging, both for scheduling and attendance due to the school spring break and the tendency to take vacations around that period," a recent report to the board said. "The December meeting tends to be similarly challenging. It is normally scheduled early in December to avoid conflict with the holiday season but, as a result, it follows closely on the heels of the November meeting and the agenda tends to be light."
The board's decision to scale back on its meetings comes after moving its meetings to the Cambie Street police station, although it has met at least once at the Graveley Street station.
There was a time when the board met at community centres and at other locations around the city, including the office of the Musqueam Indian Band.
Security and poor turnout were cited as reasons to move the meetings back to the police departments. And, as someone who hasn't missed too many meetings in the past decade, I agree the turnout by the public is poor.
So maybe it's not democracy that is the issue here.
More likely, it's the public's lack of interest in a board that might want to attach itself to the City of Vancouver's civic engagement train as it rolls out ideas to get more people involved in local government.
Or maybe the VPD is doing such a good job that only a small number of the same faces have reason to show up to complain or compliment the board, the chief and his officers.
Those faces, that is, who can make a 1 p.m. meeting on a Tuesday.
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