DRIVE AGAINST CRIME
Business owners, police fight youth violence on Commercial Drive
With summer approaching and days growing longer, Vancouver police say they have all hands on deck to find a solution to a recent spate of violence and harassment along Commercial Drive involving youth committing “crimes of boredom.”
Since April 7, shop talk along the Drive has focused on a message posted by management at Toby’s Pub & Grill to its Facebook page about a group of 20 to 30 teens allegedly “’ganging up on and harassing” patrons. On Sunday, concern escalated following an attack near Commercial and Graveley, where police say three youth were arrested and charged with assault. A juvenile victim was released from hospital after suffering minor injuries.
Nick Pogor, executive director of the Commercial Drive Business Society, said roaming packs of teenagers have always drawn concerns in the neighbourhood, but with the recent violence, businesses have grown more worried about their community and bottom line. Residents are now also contacting Pogor every day, he added.
“People that have businesses in the area, a lot of them are locally owned, a lot of them are independently owned,” he said. “They care about Commercial Drive to a huge degree so when customers are affected in this way, it affects our businesses.”
Pogor said he worries people facing mental illness, addiction and homelessness aren’t getting the attention given to those in the Downtown Eastside, and said businesses are concerned that police, health workers and outreach workers don’t have the means to reach the people who are getting into trouble.
“Their manpower, their resources are taxed,” he said. “They need additional funding and I think the will of the people, the residents is there (to) start caring a little bit more about what’s happening in our neighbourhoods.”
Vancouver police said they take the community’s concerns seriously. In recent weeks, they have bolstered resources in the area, increasing the presence of their youth squad and youth detectives, Sgt. Jason Robillard said. Officers will be doing highly-visible foot patrols and working with community police officers. All are sharing information.
“We’ve got all hands on deck for now, looking at this,” said Robillard, adding that police are also working with local businesses on permanent fixes. “We want to work with the community to come up with a longterm approach, especially going into the hot summer months.
“You’ve got youth hanging around with nothing to do. We have these crimes where they’re a nuisance and crimes of boredom.”
Natasha Vuskovic, owner of J, N & Z Deli, said her shop has been broken into five times this year and other local shops have had similar woes. Lately, theft is down but property damage is up, she added.
She said Commercial Drive has been struggling over the past few years. From her window, she watches youth drinking on the sidewalk and from her security camera she watches them engaging in crime.
“The community has changed, they way people publicly behave here has changed,” she said.
She commended Toby’s for drawing attention to the issue, but said community police need more support and charges against criminals need to stick.
A witness to Sunday’s attack — a local restaurateur who asked not to be identified — said it appeared the youth involved were organized.
“These are children using adult tools that don’t quite know what they’re doing,” he said. “It was really, really horrible to see these kids get in a fight.”
Though the recent violence hasn’t compared to what he has seen when bars empty out along Commercial Drive, in Gastown and on Granville Street, he worries it might escalate, he said.
Key to pulling these youth away from a high-risk lifestyle is having a consistent and caring presence in the community, said Mark Koop, executive director for Youth Unlimited, whose staff and volunteers run the Street Life mobile drop-in unit for youth Tuesdays on Commercial Drive.
“Often, with these youth, they haven’t found some healthy guidance in their life, they don’t have safe places where they feel like they can belong,” Koop said.
They may be at higher risk because they have fewer supports after being bounced around the foster-care system or while being raised by a single parent in a low-income household, Koop said. They might live in a small apartment packed with six people, so they seek their own space.
“There’s not a lot of room to hang out and be themselves,” he said. “They can hit the streets just to get out and be able to have some breathing room.”
They find themselves tagging along with people making bad decisions rather than developing their own skills and interests, or are preyed upon by gang recruiters and need guidance.