Recent statistics from the Victoria Police Department show a slight drop in calls for service from the area around tent city from mid-May to mid-June.
Calls for service do not necessarily mean a crime took place, only that police were called for help
“There has been more of a police presence with members in the area,” Const. Matt Rutherford said.
In May, the City of Victoria approved $113,000 in funding for two police officers to patrol the area until Sept. 30.
From May 21 to June 20, there were 223 calls for service. In the previous month, April 23 to May 20, there were 265 calls. In the month before that, March 26 to April 22, there were 169 calls.
There were 1,272 calls for service to the neighbourhood between November 2015, when the homeless camp was established, and mid-June. According to court documents, there were 18 arrests in the area, 15 of which were in the camp.
In the same period of the previous year, there were 779 calls for service and two arrests in the area. There was no camp at that time.
According to police, the majority of calls over the mid-May to mid-June period were for assists (abandoned 911 calls, help from police or fire departments and for well-being checks), public disorder and the category “other” which includes missing persons, warrant arrests and suspicious circumstances.
Of the 223 calls, six were related to drugs, 12 were related to violence and 13 involved property crimes. The police did not say how many of these calls resulted in arrests or charges.
The issue of crime and safety around the tent city was a factor in the B.C. Supreme Court decision this week to grant the province an injunction to dismantle the camp and relocate its residents into housing by Aug. 8.
“I find that the violence and criminal activities at the encampment have markedly increased since March of this year to the point where the encampment is unsafe, and for that reason conclude that the encampment poses a risk to both its residents and the residents and businesses in the area of the encampment,” Chief Justice Christopher Hinkson wrote in his decision, released Tuesday.
Examples submitted to the court include a May 20 fight between three men, witnessed by the manager of the Justice Access Centre next to tent city, an incident in which a police officer was bitten by a woman who was being arrested, and a CTV News camera operator who was pushed and chased out of the camp.
Police also said they were called to the camp on June 8 with a report of a seriously injured person inside a tent. Several officers attended and searched every tent.
“It was an extraordinary circumstance,” Acting Chief Del Manak has said. He said the residents of tent city were co-operative.
The injured person was never located, despite a search of local hospitals.
Tent city resident Warren Cairns, 40, said he understood police were just doing their job, but found the search jarring.
“It was very upsetting to me and I said that,” Cairns said.
“I said, ‘I’m not the only one here bothered by this.’ ”
