The Vancouver Police Department (VPD) () is the

police The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of Law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the Public order policing, public order ...

force in

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

, Canada. It is one of several police departments within the Metro Vancouver Area and is the second largest police force in the province after

RCMP "E" Division "E" Division is the division of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in the province of British Columbia, Canada's westernmost province. It is the largest police force in the province, providing federal and provincial services throughout the area a ...

. VPD was the first Canadian municipal police force to hire a female officer and the first to start a marine squad. VPD, along with eleven other BC municipal police forces, seconds officers to the

Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit – British Columbia The Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit – British Columbia (CFSEU-BC) is a part of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) "E" Division, mandated to provide support and investigation into complex and diverse criminal activities in BC. It ...

. VPD now occupies the former

Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC) () was the non-profit organization responsible for planning, organizing, financing and staging the 2010 Winter Olympics and 2010 Winter Paralympics. Est ...

(VANOC) building at 3585 Graveley Street, which houses administrative and specialized investigation units.

History

At the first meeting of

Vancouver City Council Vancouver City Council is the governing body of Vancouver, British Columbia. The council consists of a mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city ...

, Vancouver's first police officer, Chief Constable John Stewart, was appointed on May 10, 1886. On June 14, 1886, the morning after the Great Fire of 1886, Mayor McLean appointed Jackson Abray, V.W. Haywood, and John McLaren as special constables. With uniforms from

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

and badges fashioned from

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

coins, this four man team became Vancouver's first police department based out of the City Hall tent at the foot of Carrall Street. These four were replaced in 1887 by special constables sent by the provincial government in

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

for not keeping the peace during the anti-Asian unrest of that year. The strength of the force increased from four to fourteen as a result. Vancouver Police Department 1886

By 1904, the department had grown to 31 members and occupied a new police building at 200 Cordova Street. In 1912, Vancouver's first two women were taken on the force as matrons. With the amalgamation of

Point Grey Point Grey () is a headland marking the southern entrance to English Bay and Burrard Inlet in British Columbia, Canada. The headland is the site of Wreck Beach, Tower Beach, Point Grey Beach and most notably, since 1925, on its top is the Poin ...

and South Vancouver with Vancouver in 1929, the department absorbed the two smaller police forces under the direction of Chief Constable W.J. Bingham, a former district supervisor with the Metropolitan Police in London. By the 1940s the department had grown to 570 members. McLennanMosaic

In 1912, L.D. Harris and Minnie Miller were hired as the first two policewomen in Canada. In 1917, Chief Constable McLennan was killed in the line of duty in a shoot-out in Vancouver's East End. Responding to a call by a landlord attempting to evict a tenant, the police were met by gunfire. Along with McLennan, the shooter was killed in the battle, as was a nine-year-old boy in the vicinity at Georgia and Jackson streets, which is now marked by a mosaic memorial. A detective who lost an eye in the shootout, John Cameron, later became the chief constable of the

New Westminster Police Department __NOTOC__ The New Westminster Police Department is the police force for the City of New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada. It occupies the lower floors of the pool former Federal Building and Post Office at 555 Columbia Street (New Westminster) ...

before taking the top job of the Vancouver force, which he occupied from 1933 to the end of 1934. Another member of the force was killed in the line of duty in 1922. Twenty-three-year-old constable,

Robert McBeath Robert Gordon McBeath, VC (22 December 1898 – 9 October 1922) was a Scottish recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious medal that can be awarded to members of British military forces. Following the end of the First Worl ...

, was shot by a man stopped for impaired driving. McBeath had received the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious decoration of the Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom, British decorations system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British ...

for "most conspicuous bravery" at the Battle of Cambrai in France in the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. McBeath's killer, Fred Deal, was initially sentenced to death, but won an appeal reducing it to life in prison because he had been beaten while in custody. The marine squad's boat, the ''R.G. McBeath VC'', was commissioned in 1995 and named in honour of McBeath. Plans for a new police building at 312 Main Street began in 1953. The Oakridge police station opened in 1961. A police memorial at 325 Main St. is dedicated to the Vancouver Police Department members who died in the First and Second world wars and lists the Vancouver Police Department members killed in the line of duty in Vancouver. In 1935, under Chief Constable W. W. Foster, the Vancouver Police Department was complemented with hundreds of special constables because of a waterfront strike led by

communists Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, d ...

, which culminated in the

Battle of Ballantyne Pier The Battle of Ballantyne Pier occurred in Ballantyne Pier during a docker's strike in Vancouver, British Columbia, in June 1935. The strike can be traced back to 1912 when the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA), began organizing t ...

, a riot that broke out when demonstrators attempted to march to the docks to confront

strikebreakers A strikebreaker (sometimes pejoratively called a scab, blackleg, bootlicker, blackguard or knobstick) is a person who works despite an ongoing strike. Strikebreakers may be current employees ( union members or not), or new hires to keep the org ...

. Also that year, nearly 2,000 unemployed men from the federal relief camps scattered throughout the province flocked to Vancouver to protest camp conditions. After two months of incessant demonstrations, the camp strikers left Vancouver and began the

On-to-Ottawa Trek The On-to-Ottawa Trek was a mass protest movement in Canada in 1935 sparked by unrest among unemployed single men in federal relief camps principally in Western Canada. The trek started in Vancouver and, picking up reinforcements along the way, ...

. The Vancouver Police were at the centre of one of the biggest scandals in the city's history in 1955. Feeling frustrated that blatant police corruption was being ignored by the local media, a reporter for the ''

Vancouver Daily Province ''The Province'' is a daily newspaper published in tabloid format in British Columbia by Pacific Newspaper Group, a division of Postmedia Network, alongside the ''Vancouver Sun'' broadsheet newspaper. Together, they are British Columbia's only ...

'' switched to a Toronto-based tabloid, ''Flash''. He wrote a sensational article alleging corruption at the highest levels of the police department in Vancouver, specifically, that a pay-off system had been implemented whereby gambling operations that paid the police were left alone and those that did not were harassed. After the ''Flash'' article appeared in Vancouver, the allegations could no longer be ignored, and a

Royal Commission A royal commission is a major ad-hoc formal public inquiry into a defined issue in some monarchies. They have been held in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway, Malaysia, Mauritius and Saudi Arabia. In republics an equi ...

, the Tupper Commission, was struck to hold a public inquiry. Chief Constable Walter Mulligan fled to the United States, another officer from the upper ranks committed suicide, and still another attempted suicide rather than face the inquiry. Other scandals and public inquiries plagued the force before and since this one, dubbed the "Mulligan Affair", but none were so dramatic. An earlier inquiry into corruption in 1928 was ambiguous in its conclusions as to the extent of the problem. The last major inquiry into policing in Vancouver focused largely on police accountability. Judge

Wally Oppal Wallace Taroo "Wally" Oppal, (born 1940) is a Canadian lawyer, former judge and provincial politician. Between 2005 and 2009, he served as British Columbia's Attorney General and Minister responsible for Multiculturalism, as well as Member of ...

(later provincial

attorney general In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...

), submitted the results of his report in 1994 in a four volume package entitled ''Closing the Gap: Policing and the Community''. Leonard Hogue, a constable in the police department, was the perpetrator in the 1965 Coquitlam Massacre. In 2009, the RCMP "E" Division joined forces with VPD to operate the

Integrated National Security Enforcement Team Integrated National Security Enforcement Teams (INSET; , ''EISN'') are Canada, Canadian Counterterrorism, counterterrorist, counter-Foreign electoral intervention, foreign interference, and Counterintelligence, counter-espionage units operating u ...

(INSET)—Vancouver, operating out of VPD facilities instead of the INSET-BC Surrey operation base. VPD beach patrol

Community policing centres

Organization

Community policing centres (CPCs), except the Granville Downtown and Kitsilano Fairview CPCs, are run by registered societies. The Granville Downtown CPC is under the direct control of the District 1 commander whereas Kitsilano Fairview is under the District 4 commander.

Budget

Each CPC receives $108,200 annually from the VPD, with the exception of two non-society based CPCs which have a combined budget of $140,000. The budget is delivered in four quarterly payments and they can be used towards staff salaries, CPC programs, costs from electricity, renting office space, etc.

Operation

CPCs are run by volunteers on a day-to-day basis with the supervision from paid staffs. Each year, the VPD audits all the CPCs and then reports to the city council on budgeting. Each CPC is assigned a neighbourhood police officer (NPO) who provides resources and guidance for the operation of the CPC.

Programs

Each CPC offers different programs based on budget and neighbourhood needs. For example: * Taking non-emergency/lost and found property reports * Project Griffin * Working in conjunction with the

Insurance Corporation of British Columbia The Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC) is a provincial Crown corporation in British Columbia providing vehicle insurance. ICBC was created in 1973 by the NDP government of Premier Dave Barrett. By law, any vehicle registered an ...

for the Speed Watch Program * Working in conjunction with the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia for the Stolen Auto Recovery Program * Working in conjunction with the VPD for the Block Watch Program * Community patrol (foot and bike) * Bike Roadeo, program for young children in bike safety * Outreach and education programs *

Engraving Engraving is the practice of incising a design on a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a Burin (engraving), burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or Glass engraving, glass ar ...

* Community cleanup * Child Find * Citizen's Crime Watch However, CPCs do not offer any of the following services: * Taking emergency report *

Criminal record A criminal record (not to be confused with a police record or arrest record) is a record of a person's criminal Conviction, convictions history. The information included in a criminal record, and the existence of a criminal record, varies betwe ...

checks * Law/

bylaw A by-law (bye-law, by(e)law, by(e) law), is a set of rules or law established by an organization or community so as to regulate itself, as allowed or provided for by some higher authority. The higher authority, generally a legislature or some other ...

enforcement * Legal/policing advice * Victim services * Situations that requires police attendance/assistance

Departmental organization

Overseen by the Police Board, the 1,716 employees of the VPD have been led by Chief Constable Steve Rai since May 22, 2025, following the departure of Adam Palmer, who retired in order to join the

Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; , GRC) is the Law enforcement in Canada, national police service of Canada. The RCMP is an agency of the Government of Canada; it also provides police services under contract to 11 Provinces and terri ...

. The force has five operating divisions assigned to the Chief Constable:

Operations

Led by Deputy Chief Constable Howard Chow since 2017.

Operations Command

* District 1 * District 2 * District 3 * District 4 * Diversity, Community, & Indigenous Relations

Operations Support Command

* Operations Support Section * Duty Officers * Court & Detention Services Section * Traffic Section * Emergency Response Section

Emergency Management & Major Events Command

* Emergency & Operational Planning Section *

2026 FIFA World Cup The 2026 FIFA World Cup, marketed as FIFA World Cup 26, will be the 23rd FIFA World Cup, the Anniversary#Latin-derived numerical names, quadrennial international men's Association football, soccer championship contested by the List of men's n ...

Issue

Investigation

Led by Deputy Chief Constable Fiona Wilson since 2021 and until August 2025, when she will assume command of the

Victoria Police Department The Victoria Police Department (VicPD) is the municipal police force for the City of Victoria, British Columbia, Victoria and the Esquimalt, British Columbia, Township of Esquimalt, British Columbia, Canada. It is the oldest municipal police dep ...

. Investigative Services * Major Crime Section * Organized Crime Section * Special Investigation Section Investigative Support Services * Tactical Support Section * Forensic Services Section * General Investigation Section * Youth Services Section * Body Worn Camera Section

Executive Services

Led by Inspector Kevin Bernardin.

Public Affairs

Led by Inspector Shaun Deans.

Support services

Leadership vacant since 2025.

Planning, Research & Audit Section

Discipline Authority Services

Personnel Services

* Human Resources Section * Training & Recruiting Section * Professional Standards Section * Labour & Employee Relations Services

Information Services

* Information & Communication Technology Section * Information Management Section * Fleet Operations Section * Facilities Section * Property & Forensic Storage Section * Information & Privacy Section * Enterprise Risk Management Section

Force Options Training Section

Financial Services

Union

The Vancouver Police Union is a

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

that represents 1,450 front-line police officers, jail guards and special constables of the Vancouver Police Department.

Rank structure

* Special municipal constable (traffic authority/jail guard/community safety personnel)

List of chief constables

Controversies

Battle of Ballantyne Pier

On 18 June 1935, roughly 1,000 longshoremen and their supporters marched towards the Heatley Street entrance to

Ballantyne Pier Ballantyne Pier (also called the Ballantyne Cruise Terminal) was a commercial and passenger dock of the Port of Vancouver, Canada, located at 851 Centennial Road. It sat at the west side of Rogers Sugar across the Canadian Pacific Railway tracks ...

as a demonstration for more livable wages. They were led by

recipient

Mickey O'Rourke Michael James "Mickey" O'Rourke (March 19, 1878 – December 6, 1957), was an Ireland, Irish-Canadians, Canadian soldier and dockworker. O'Rourke was a recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest, most prestigious decoration for gallantry i ...

and a contingent of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

veterans and marched behind a

Union Jack The Union Jack or Union Flag is the ''de facto'' national flag of the United Kingdom. The Union Jack was also used as the official flag of several British colonies and dominions before they adopted their own national flags. It is sometimes a ...

flag, to great symbolic effect. They soon encountered the Vancouver police, who partook in mass brutality. Many, including bystanders, were injured. In light of the injuries, the Ukrainian Community Centre was used as a makeshift hospital. Members of the women's auxiliary operated the centre, before the Vancouver police threw

tear gas Tear gas, also known as a lachrymatory agent or lachrymator (), sometimes colloquially known as "mace" after the Mace (spray), early commercial self-defense spray, is a chemical weapon that stimulates the nerves of the lacrimal gland in the ey ...

into the first-aid centre. The strike, in congruence with other, similar West Coast strikes, led to the right to

collective bargaining Collective bargaining is a process of negotiation between employers and a group of employees aimed at agreements to regulate working salaries, working conditions, benefits, and other aspects of workers' compensation and labour rights, rights for ...

and the creation of

International Longshore and Warehouse Union The International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) is a labor union which primarily represents dock workers on the West Coast of the United States, Hawaii, and in British Columbia, Canada; on the East Coast, the dominant union is the Intern ...

Bloody Sunday

Bloody Sunday was a 1938 confrontation between peaceful sit-in strikers and the VPD, along with other forces. After mass unemployment across Canada, many people migrated to Vancouver for job opportunities. When unemployment persisted and workers felt no financial relief, they organized a massive peaceful demonstration, occurring in multiple locations for an entire month. Protesters occupied Hotel Georgia, the

Vancouver Art Gallery The Vancouver Art Gallery (VAG) is an art museum in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The museum occupies a adjacent to Robson Square in downtown Vancouver, making it the largest art museum in Western Canada by building size. Designed by Fr ...

(then located at 1145 West

Georgia Street Georgia Street is an east–west street in the cities of Vancouver and Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. Its section in Downtown Vancouver, designated West Georgia Street, serves as one of the primary streets for the financial and central busi ...

), and the main post office (now the

Sinclair Centre Sinclair Centre is an upscale shopping mall in Downtown Vancouver, Downtown Vancouver, British Columbia. It is located at 757 Hastings Street (Vancouver), West Hastings Street between Granville Street, Granville and Howe streets. The centre compri ...

). Later that day, 10,000 supporters went to

Oppenheimer Park Oppenheimer Park is a park located in the historic Japantown, Vancouver, Japantown (Paueru-Gai) in the Downtown Eastside, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. History The park was opened in 1902 as the Powell Street Grounds by Vancouver's sec ...

in condemnation of excessive police force of the Vancouver Police Department.

Gastown riots

Also known as "The Battle of Maple Tree Square", Vancouver Police attacked a peaceful protest in the

Gastown Gastown is the original settlement that became the core of the city of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and a national historic site and a neighbourhood in the northwest section of the Downtown Eastside, adjacent to Downtown Vancouver. Its ...

neighbourhood on August 7, 1971. The protestors opposed the use of coercive undercover police tactics. The Vancouver Police were accused of heavy-handed tactics such as indiscriminate beatings with their batons and charging on horseback at crowds of onlookers and tourists."Photos: The 1971 Gastown riot" (photos). Vancouver Sun. May 25, 2010. Retrieved September 1, 2013.

Geography

The VPD is divided into four geographic districts, with one additional task force: * District 1: Downtown, Granville, West End and Coal Harbour * District 2: Grandview-Woodland and Hastings-Sunrise * District 3: Collingwood and South Vancouver * District 4: Kerrisdale, Oakridge, Dunbar, West Point Grey, Kitsilano, Arbutus, Shaughnessy, Fairview, Musqueam and Marpole * Beat Enforcement Team: Downtown Eastside, Chinatown and Gastown

Fleet

* Eurocopter EC120 Colibri (air patrol operations shared with

) *

Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor The Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor (colloquially referred to as the CVPI, P71, or P7B) is a four-door, body-on-frame sedan that was manufactured by Ford Motor Company, Ford from 1992 to 2011. It is the police car version of the Ford Crow ...

(being phased out) *

Lenco BearCat The Lenco BearCat is a wheeled SWAT vehicle designed for military and law enforcement use. It is in use by numerous military forces and law enforcement agencies around the world. History Since 1981 the Massachusetts-based Lenco Industries, known ...

(APC - purchase approved) * Cambli International Thunder 1 (ARV—delivered 2010 for ERT use) *

Ford Police Interceptor Sedan The sixth generation of the Ford Taurus is a full-size sedan manufactured and marketed by Ford for model years 2010-2019 with a mild facelift for model year 2013. While sharing the chassis underpinnings of the previous generation Taurus and ...

(two unmarked black demonstration units that were kept) * Dodge Charger Pursuit (replacement for Ford Crown Victoria) *

Ford Police Interceptor Utility The Ford Explorer is a range of Sport utility vehicle, SUVs manufactured by Ford Motor Company since the 1991 model year. The first five-door SUV produced by Ford, the Explorer, was introduced as a replacement for the three-door Ford Bronco II ...

(marked, unmarked, and supervisor vehicles) *

Chevrolet Tahoe The Chevrolet Tahoe (), and its Rebadging, badge-engineered GMC Yukon counterpart, are full-size SUVs and other trucks from General Motors, offered since 1994 and 1991, respectively. Since 1982, Chevrolet and GMC (General Motors division), GMC ...

(unmarked SUVs) *

Ford Fusion The Ford Fusion is an automobile nameplate by Ford. * Ford Fusion (Americas), mid-size car produced between the 2006 and 2020 model years ** Ford Fusion Hybrid, gasoline-electric hybrid powered version ** Ford Fusion Energi, plug-in hybrid ...

(CSP/special investigations) *

Ford F-150 The Ford F-Series is a series of light-duty trucks marketed and manufactured by Ford Motor Company since model year 1948 as a range of full-sized pickup trucks — positioned between Ford's Ranger and Super Duty pickup trucks. Alongs ...

(traffic authority) * Ford F-350 (ERT) *

Ford Expedition The Ford Expedition is a full-size SUV produced by Ford since the 1997 model year. The successor to the Ford Bronco, the Expedition shifted its form factor from an off-road oriented vehicle to a truck-based station wagon. Initially competing ...

(ERT) * Mobile Command Centre (Communications use and transportation of command members).

References

"Vancouver Police Department – History"
* Joe Swan, ''A Century of Service: The Vancouver Police 1886–1986''. Vancouver: Vancouver Police Historical Society and Centennial Museum, 1986.

External links

*
Vancouver Police Museum

Vancouver Police Foundation
{{Authority control Law enforcement agencies of British Columbia

Police Department The police are a constituted body of people empowered by a state with the aim of enforcing the law and protecting the public order as well as the public itself. This commonly includes ensuring the safety, health, and possessions of citize ...

Government agencies established in 1886 1886 establishments in British Columbia