Vancouver Police Department public safety trailers vandalized in Downtown Eastside
Days after it was set up to help deter crime and record criminal activity in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, Vancouver police say one of their public safety trailers has been towed away following an incident of vandalism.
Police confirmed the wires were cut and tires slashed on the mobile surveillance unit at Main and Hastings Streets sometime between late Friday and Saturday.
The trailers are powered by generators and have four pole-cameras recording 24/7 in all directions.
Since mid-February, police have had a heightened presence in the area with Task Force Barrage, and the mobile trailers were added following recent violent attacks, and after the VPD received intelligence that there may be a plot on the Downtown Eastside to kill an officer.
One unit remains on Carrall Street near Hastings Street, near where a police officer was set on fire earlier this month.
The damaged trailer was installed near the alley behind the Carnegie Centre, where police said a 92-year-old man, a Chinatown resident, was beaten by three suspects March 18. The elderly victim died in hospital March 31 and investigators are awaiting autopsy results to determine if his death was a homicide.
“We’re out there making life difficult for people who are criminals, people who are predators, people who are preying on the vulnerabilities of people in that neighbourhood and we understand that that criminal element certainly doesn’t want us there,” Sgt. Steve Addison told Global News Monday.
“We believe it’s likely a member of that criminal element that has done this.”
Public safety trailer recordings can be reviewed in the event of a crime and police are doing that after the unit was vandalized. If identified, the suspects could be charged with mischief.
“We’ll review the video to determine who did this, and we’ll find them,” Addison said.
globalnews
