Almost six months after its launch, the VPD’s Sister Watch program is beginning to see results by building relationships and protecting those most vulnerable in the troubled community.
“We’ve changed the way we are communicating and doing business to address issues in the Downtown Eastside,” says Sgt. Joanne Boyle, acting inspector for the VPD’s major crimes section.
Sister Watch was developed in response to growing frustration with the lack of police investigation into cases involving violence against aboriginal women in the area.
The most recent case that sparked outrage was the death of Ashley Machiskinic, who fell from a fifth floor window at the Regent Hotel in suspicious circumstances. Her death was dismissed as a suicide by the VPD.
Boyle says the success of the Sister Watch program lies in actively listening to the community, something long overdue.
“What we really needed to do in this case was to slow down and listen to the community and not to tell them what we thought needed to be fixed, but to actually hear it from them what their priorities were. ... Then to start working together, and that’s the phase that we’re in now.”
The Sister Watch program includes an anonymous tip line, monthly town hall meetings, a website, and rewards for information related to the Machiskinic case. Boyle says the first open-mic meetings revealed a wave of resentment against the VPD, and called on the police to listen.
“There was a lot of ongoing anger and mistrust in the community. A lot of it is stemming from the missing women’s report and the fact that, by our own admission, we could have done more in investigating Pickton earlier.”
Mona Woodward, executive director of the Aboriginal Front Door Society, says the town hall meetings are quickly becoming collaboration sessions, with topical discussion and strategy implementation.
The latest meeting, held on March 4, “went excellent—really good strategies and outcomes,” she says.
One of the program’s most effective strategies has been to identify and pro-actively target violent drug dealers, who often use terror and torture in collecting drug debts.
Woodward says Sister Watch brings a new perspective to the VPD in the way the police approach crime and criminals in the DTES.
“With the new take-downs and the way they do policing, they’re not looking at it as the amount of drugs and money that they confiscate, but in terms of harm done to the vulnerable people.”
The VPD’s website says 11 arrests have been made through the program so far, including that of convicted sex offender and drug trafficker Martin Tremblay.
Woodward says the change in policing perspective has been the biggest breakthrough, but more work needs to be done to address systemic oppression and discrimination in policies.
“There’s still policies that create oppression for vulnerable people, for women too.”
The VPD is planning to broaden the program to become more proactive in preventing assaults against women and reducing their vulnerability, rather than playing a reactionary role after the crime has already been committed.
Sgt. Boyle says the success of the program has been attracting attention nationwide, but notes however that it needs to be tailored to the unique needs of the community if implemented elsewhere.
“What’s important is that it’s not a cookie-cutter approach. We’ve gotten this far from having some fairly intensive and close-together meetings with the community. So although I think you could embrace the idea, I think it really needs to be personalized depending on what the issues are in any particular community.”
A recent measure, for example, was to install “9-1-1 only” pay phones in core areas of the DTES—phones that can’t be used by drug dealers, but only by those in need of help.