A promising Victoria police downtown foot-patrol program is unlikely to be expanded or extended any time soon due to a lack of resources, says Chief Del Manak.
In an update for city council on Thursday, Manak said he would love for VicPD’s Project Downtown Connect, which was launched in May, to be “regularized” but the resources don’t exist. “Clearly a need that the community has asked for is more visibility and more patrols and better engagement from the police.”
But Manak said recruiting veteran officers to work in a high-cost environment like Victoria has been tough and it takes time to bring on new officers.
He noted the program, which started as a two-month pilot project in May, has already been extended until the end of August through rejigging existing resources and using a $35,000 grant from the city.
Manak said the department intends to extend the program as long as it can. “[It gives] us the flexibility to actually deploy officers and really focus and connect on the retail theft and also having high visibility downtown and providing that safe downtown presence,” he said.
“It’s been extremely positive. We’re not just walking and just providing a visible presence — we’re actually going in, engaging with business owners, storekeepers and talking about crime-prevention tips.
“I can tell you that the early return on this investment has been phenomenal.”
Manak said in response to business concerns, police have run undercover operations that within a few hours have netted thousands of dollars worth of stolen goods, and they have identified and arrested individuals in an organized retail theft ring.
“Business owners are obviously very pleased that we’re putting thought and attention to this and prioritizing this. We’re also sending a strong message to the individuals that the police are out there,” he said.
In his quarterly update, which touched on everything from retail crime to school liaison officers and the overdose crisis, Manak said calls for service have remained fairly steady, though property-crime calls have dropped from the previous quarter. That could be the result of under-reporting, he said. “There still seems to be a lot of shoplifting and retail theft going on — it’s just a lot of it isn’t getting reported.”
Manak told council a new co-response team that pairs a plainclothes police officer in an unmarked police vehicle with a registered psychiatric nurse to respond to mental-health crises traditionally handled by uniformed cops has been “quite popular in the community,” handling 250 files in the first quarter.
Manak also touched on the recent news that the Greater Victoria School Board is ending its police officer school-liaison program. Though VicPD hasn’t had school-liaison officers since 2018 due to budget problems, Manak wanted the program to return, and said he is disappointed that won’t happen.
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