VPD’s media blitz on stranger assaults potentially tarnished city’s international reputation

Vancouver police sounding the alarm about random crime ahead of the 2022 election may have tarnished the city's international reputation.

A Vancouver police media blitz regarding stranger assaults in the city during the 2022 election year prompted concern from international tour operators, a CTV News investigation revealed.

Documents obtained through a Freedom of Information request include an email to police and then-Mayor Kennedy Stewart from someone who identified themselves as a local cruise industry professional.

The person’s name is redacted in the documents.

“I am receiving more inquiries from U.S./foreign travel agencies about the concern of the increasing ‘stranger on stranger’ assaults in Vancouver’s cruise ship terminal vicinity, as recently reported by VPD and local media,” the email says.

Someone within the department forwarded the email to media liaison officer Sgt. Steve Addison with questions about deciding if and how to respond.

“I think we should respond,” Addison replied. “Let’s acknowledge the struggles they’ve had as an industry, and the fear and anxiety created by news of stranger attacks, then let people know what we’re doing.”

The email exchange took place in late February of 2022 – a year in which police issued 52 different news releases referencing stranger attacks or random assaults. That’s more than double the number they put out the previous year.

Public safety became the key issue of the election.

At the time, VPD media officers frequently cited an average of 4.2 random assaults occurring per day in the city.

That number comes from data compiled for the period spanning from September 1, 2020 to August 31, 2021, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the first half of 2022, the number of random assaults had already dipped to 1.8 per day – but the VPD did not compile updated stats until 18 months later.

• Read more: Stranger assaults had plummeted months before Vancouver’s 2022 election. Why didn’t anyone know?
• ‘Fear and anxiety’: What our police FOI requests uncovered about Vancouver’s stranger assault scare

“One stranger attack is too many. Obviously, we want to ensure that public safety is paramount for everyone who visits and lives and works in Vancouver,” said Green Party Coun. Pete Fry.

“But we want that information to be accurate. We don’t need unnecessary fear-mongering to drive political agendas, and ultimately scare people away from our city.”

At the same time the VPD was using its social media channels to highlight random attacks in the city, the Vancouver Police Union took the unprecedented step of endorsing then-mayoral candidate Ken Sim and his colleagues running with ABC Vancouver.

The party ran on a law and order campaign and promised to hire an additional 100 police officers if elected.

Coalition of Progressive Electors Coun. Sean Orr worries about an erosion of public trust in the city’s institutions.

“There are reasons why other jurisdictions don’t allow police to endorse political candidates, because you then get this concern that the police are now involved in politics, and they want to drive an agenda, and whatever that agenda entails in terms of increasing their budgets, or winning elections,” Orr said.

Through his office, Sim declined an interview request.