19 arrested, $2 million in cash and drugs seized on Downtown Eastside: police

Vancouver police are showing off their latest haul from “Task Force Barrage,” as critics continue raising concerns about how it was launched.

The Vancouver Police Department showed off a $2 million seizure of illegal drugs and cash on Thursday, a result of the controversial operation known as Task Force Barrage.

Police made the bust last week at an apartment building near East Hastings and Gore streets last week, and hope they made they’ve a significant – if temporary – dent in criminal activity in the area.

“Over the past five months, we’ve driven down violent crime, made hundreds of arrests, seized more than 1,100 weapons, and significantly interrupted the illicit drug trade,” Inspector Gary Hiar, the task force’s commanding officer, told reporters at VPD headquarters on Thursday.

Beyond the seizures, 19 people were taken into custody.

No charges have been laid.

But the former head of the VPD drug unit says enforcement is only one part of the equation.

“The sustainability for example, when the money runs out for ‘barrage,’ and the police have to downplay their task force, or even ask for more money to continue on with it, the area will default to its previous problem area,” Kash Heed, a former superintendent with the department, told CTV News on Thursday when asked about the task force and potential outcomes.

Task force barrage has been controversial, facing allegations of arrest quotas which the VPD has disputed.

It’s has also been criticized over Mayor Ken Sim bypassing the police board to approve the $5-million operation.

“What’s the point of having citizen involvement, what’s the point of having citizen oversight? I don’t think the ends justify the means,” former Vancouver Police Board vice-chair Faye Wightman told CTV News on Thursday. “It’s not like it was such an emergency, it’s not like it was something that everyone has not been aware for a long time, the violence in the Downtown Eastside.”

Funding for Task Force Barrage remains in place until mid-August – but the operation could continue longer than that, with Hiar indicating he has watched spending.