Police Chief Jim Chu gets to know a lot of politicians in his job.
Those connections have, no doubt, increased since he became president of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police in September 2012.
So it wasn’t a great surprise when he sent out a tweet last week from his Twitter account showing him and the country’s public safety minister, Steven Blaney, in an alley near Main and Hastings.
So what was the purpose of the walkabout?
I caught up with Chu at last Thursday’s Vancouver Police Board meeting to ask him. Apparently, the chief and Blaney had talked many times in Ottawa and Chu had been on his case to visit Vancouver.
“He said he would like to come to the Downtown Eastside,” the chief said. “So, on a first-hand basis, he was able to see the issues with drug addiction, with mental illness, the need for treatment, the need for housing. I think it was an eye-opener for him.”
Blaney was also impressed with what he saw of the relationship between Chu’s officers and drug users, according to the chief, who leads a department that officially supports the Insite supervised drug injection.
“It’s a very professional, courteous relationship. And he was pleased to see that.”
Pivot Legal Society and other police watchdog groups might have something to say about that, but I’ll leave that for another time; besides, aren’t you usually on your best behavior when the big boss is in town?
Anyway, Blaney was not the first public safety minister to get a private tour with Chu. Former ministers Vic Toews and Peter Van Loan got the same treatment.
But, I wondered, do these visits by federal politicians actually lead to any action taken by Ottawa to tackle drug addiction, homelessness, mental illness and justice issues?
“Whenever you are able to brief high-level officials on the realities of the front lines, I think it is good to provide him with a sound base to make decisions coming forward,” Chu said. “It’s always important to show the West Coast challenges that we have. Many of those political leaders are based in the east, so I always roll the welcome mat out to show them the challenges we face in public safety in the city of Vancouver.”
But, again, have any of those tours resulted in any action?
“It’s resulted in greater awareness but it’s not the kind of tour where you say, ‘Bring your chequebook and give me the money afterwards.’ It’s not like that.”
The chief made the comment shortly after statistics released at the police board meeting showed an increase in the number of mental health apprehensions by police — and the day after Mayor Gregor Robertson, who doubles as chairperson of the police board, expressed his worry about an increase in homelessness.
Which leads to a question I should have asked the chief: When’s the PM getting a tour?
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