The West Vancouver Police Department

The West Vancouver Police Department is a municipal police service that serves the district of West Vancouver, British Columbia. It is governed by and reports to the West Vancouver Police Board.

The West Vancouver Police Department is a professional police force committed to making West Vancouver safe today and safer tomorrow. It is the first police service in Canada to hire female officers and works closely with the local community to reduce crime and improve livability.

Patrol Division

The Patrol Division of the West Vancouver Police Department provides a wide range of law enforcement services. This includes traffic enforcement, patrols and investigations.

Our officers work to keep our community safe and protect the property, safety and security of all of its residents. We believe the most effective way to do this is to engage and work with the people who live, work and play in our community.

In addition to traditional police service, the WVPD has a Community Safety Team that works to respond to community issues and build relationships with neighbourhoods. This team is made up of dedicated sworn and civilian officers.

The Community Safety Team aims to address the social, environmental and economic issues that impact the lives of residents in their communities. This involves working with a wide range of stakeholders, including community groups, schools, and government agencies.

Sworn Officers are assigned to precincts and patrol districts that vary in size. The largest patrol district includes Point Grey, Kitsilano, Fairview, Dunbar-Southlands, Arbutus Ridge, Shaughnessy, South Cambie, and Riley Park.

Each district receives a different level of service. This allows us to focus on problem-oriented policing that can make a big difference in your community.

Our Police Officers are a diverse group of people, who come from all walks of life, and all parts of the world. They love their job and have a deep commitment to public safety.

Some of the things they do on a daily basis include investigating serious crimes, providing support to vulnerable citizens, and responding to emergencies. They also participate in a variety of training and development programs.

We have a strong commitment to community engagement and Indigenous relations. John Lo, our new Chief Constable has been working hard to ensure that these values are at the forefront of the West Vancouver Police Department’s mandate.

A former West Vancouver Police Officer and RCMP member, John has served in various progressive leadership roles within the Department over the past 17 years. He is committed to making WVPD a safer place and working in partnership with our community and the City of Vancouver.

Community Policing / School Liaisons

The Community Policing / School Liaisons Division (CST) is dedicated to building and maintaining positive relationships with the community. This includes proactively responding to issues that may impact the safety and well-being of the citizens of West Vancouver.

The team also works closely with the District of West Vancouver’s Youth Outreach Workers to identify and support vulnerable youth within the city. This can be as simple as providing a young person with resources or delivering healthy meals to them.

Some of the Community Policing Officers are assigned to a specific Neighborhood Association and are responsible for assisting that district with crime prevention, livability issues and other concerns that may arise within their districts. They are also responsible for attending and participating in community meetings, answering citizen questions and working cross departmentally with other police officers to assist citizens with problem solving strategies.

One of the most rewarding aspects of policing is when you are able to meet the citizens in your district and get to know them. This can be through one-on-one conversations with a community member or by attending community events and meetings.

In order to build a strong relationship with the public, our Community Policing / School Liaisons officers work with many groups in our communities including Youth Outreach Workers, Neighborhood Associations, Churches and community groups. Having this strong relationship with the citizens in our District can not only improve their quality of life, but it can also help prevent crime from occurring within their neighborhoods.

The Community Policing / School Liaisons team is comprised of Constables, Special Duty Officers and Investigators who work with community members in the District of West Vancouver to ensure the safety and well-being of their communities. They are also responsible for investigating crimes that are committed in the District of West Vancouver and ensuring that criminal offences are properly dealt with.

Some of the community policing officers also work to provide assistance to low barrier and vulnerable citizens in their community who are struggling with a variety of social issues such as obtaining identification, obtaining jobs or housing. This initiative is known as ID4ME and has already helped hundreds of people in the Downtown Eastside, enabling them to open bank accounts, obtain improved housing and upgrade their education.

Traffic Division

The Traffic Division is the policing unit that handles road and sidewalk enforcement, school zone speed enforcement, traffic related enforcement and serious injury/fatality traffic investigations. Officers are assigned to patrol areas, or “patrol districts,” that are designed around the needs and issues in each area. The districts are District One, which includes Yaletown, Coal Harbour and the Central Business District; District Two, which covers Strathcona, Grandview-Woodlands, Hastings-Sunrise, and Downtown Eastside; and District Three, which includes Sunset, Renfrew-Collingwood, Mount Pleasant, Victoria-Fraserview and Kensington-Cedar Cottage.

The department is staffed by five officers and a sergeant with each officer assigned to a traffic car and one duty sergeant responsible for the entire unit. The police dog team also works in this division to support traffic policing.

During the winter, the Traffic Division conducts special winter safety patrols on roads and highways to ensure pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists and motorists are safe. This is done to reduce the number of fatalities and injuries on BC’s roadways.

In addition to these regular patrols, the department employs dedicated full-time officers in Internal Road Services Units (IRSUs) to address more strategic road and highway traffic enforcement. These units are located in RCMP jurisdictions throughout B.C. and are made up of a combination of municipal police and RCMP officers who work to improve the quality of life on our streets.

Recently, a West Vancouver police officer was caught using the department’s address on their driver’s licence and insurance documents while off-duty. Officials from the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner (OPCC) found the incident was a factor in their investigation, and recommended the department create a policy prohibiting officers from listing the police headquarters as their home address on their documents.

A multi-vehicle crash in west Vancouver Saturday night left three people hospitalized and the driver of a pickup truck killed. The Ford F-150 was carrying a travel trailer and a Kia Soul when it collided with an Acura TL.

The incident was captured on video by longboarders, who had stopped to help. The footage has racked up more than 350,000 views since it was posted Sunday night. Several other videos of the incident have been posted on YouTube and Facebook.

E-Comm Dispatch

E-Comm Dispatch is a regional dispatch service that operates from a purpose-built facility, with the mission to help save lives and protect property by providing effective communications for police, fire and ambulance services across the province. The agency also provides public safety alerts that can be sent directly to your smart phone, as well as emergency information and tips for residents on how to stay safe in emergencies.

E-Comm serves about 60 municipalities and a number of police and fire agencies. It uses the Project 25 modulation system to communicate with emergency responders, which allows first responders to be encrypted from surveillance devices.

The City of Vancouver pays E-Comm $19 million for police call services, as well as $5 million to handle calls for Vancouver Fire Rescue Services. The city also provides funds for other services such as crowd control and forensics.

A recent story in Vancouver Is Awesome highlighted a number of complaints regarding the city’s reliance on E-Comm. The story prompted the city to question whether the service was worth what it was paying for.

An E-Comm employee told Postmedia that the agency was struggling to get calls referred to police and emergency crews quickly, causing long wait times for people who called 911 for non-emergency concerns. She described Saturday as the worst day she had worked since January.

She added that there was also a lack of staffing to take incoming calls, which caused long delays in referring them to police. She also said that despite a recent increase in pay, there was still a lack of retention among E-Comm employees due to burnout and low wages.

According to the union that represents the E-Comm 911 emergency call takers, they have been working “well beyond” their normal hours to fill gaps in staffing. The Emergency Communication Professionals of BC has been negotiating with the agency for temporary compensation and psychological supports as they try to retain call takers in the face of a growing workload.

Earlier this year, E-Comm’s president, Donald Grant, said the agency was making progress in recruiting new call takers. However, he noted that the temporary compensation and psychological support were scheduled to expire in September.