Vancouver: Time to Rethink Our Priorities – Overtime, Crisis, and Accountability
Vancouver is at a tipping point. The city spends $349 million on its police department, yet people are still dying in the streets, the housing crisis is worsening, and addiction and mental-health emergencies are left untreated. What’s happening here is more than mismanagement — it’s a human-rights crisis, and it cannot be ignored.
⚠️ The Outrageous Overtime
In 2024, the Vancouver Police Department (VPD) spent $39 million on overtime — a 50% increase from the previous year.
- 47 officers earned over $100,000 in overtime each.
- One sergeant took home $239,258 in overtime, on top of a $158,000 base salary.
- Meanwhile, housing remains unaffordable, mental-health services are underfunded, and over 18,000 people have died from fentanyl.
This is absurd and morally indefensible. Public money should be saving lives, not padding paychecks.
☀️ On the Streets of Vancouver
The misuse of resources is visible everywhere.
- At Kitsilano Beach, four cop cars and eight officers stand in the sunshine — no crime, just coffee and small talk.
- Late at night, police line up at Siegel’s Bagels, cars idling while officers grab snacks, only to roar down Burrard Street at 4 a.m. with lights blazing.
- On English Bay, three officers patrol on quads, watching sunsets, shooing people home at 10 p.m., while the Downtown Eastside looks like a war zone.
Meanwhile, residents in crisis — seniors, youth, the unhoused — receive little to no care. The priorities are clear: protect appearances, pad paychecks, and leave people behind.
💔 When Help Becomes Harm
It gets worse. Families fear calling for help during a crisis because wellness checks often escalate danger.
During the pandemic, one young person in Vancouver called an ambulance for their partner, who was confused, scared, and medicated with drugs that can trigger suicidal thoughts in youth. When the police arrived, they broke down the wrong door, brandished large weapons, and traumatized an already traumatized child. They made jokes, played on a trampoline, and delayed care while the ambulance arrived.
Stories like this aren’t rare — they’re part of a system where people cannot safely call for help. Families circulated warnings: do not call the police. For some, calling meant risking the life of a loved one.
🔍 Why Local Oversight Isn’t Enough
The Cullen Commission into money laundering revealed systemic corruption in B.C. — and yet, nothing changed. No one was jailed. No one resigned. The system protected itself.
The same patterns exist with policing and public safety. Local oversight has failed. The system is too tied to politicians, unions, and internal interests to act impartially.
🌍 Who Must Step Up
We are calling for an independent, international investigation — outside of Canada’s political and policing networks — to examine:
- The VPD’s overtime spending and payroll practices.
- Mismanagement of public funds meant to save lives.
- Failures in mental-health and crisis response that have contributed to preventable deaths.
- Structural systems that protect power, status, and budgets over human life.
Transparency International, UN Special Rapporteurs, UNODC, OECD anti-bribery monitors, and investigative journalists worldwide must step up. Vancouver’s most vulnerable deserve truth, justice, and restitution.
⚖️ A Call for Change
We demand:
✅ Immediate international investigation into the VPD.
✅ Full public transparency of payroll and overtime data.
✅ Reallocation of funds to mental-health care, addiction treatment, housing, and social support.
✅ Restitution — returning what was lost to neglect and mismanagement.
Every dollar wasted on excessive overtime, political protection, and misused power is a dollar stolen from those who are suffering and dying.
✊ Time for Action
Vancouver is at a tipping point. We can continue funding force, or we can start funding healing, prevention, and care.
The stories are real. The numbers are real. The suffering is real. People’s lives are on the line. It is time for truth, accountability, and justice — and for the world to watch.
Written by Tina Winterlik (aka Zipolita) — artist, writer, and advocate for truth, compassion, and justice.
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