Vancouver police unfairly ticketing poor people

Advocates in the Downtown Eastside are claiming that the police are targeting poor people with jaywalking and vending tickets.

PIVOT and VANDU through a freedom of information request found that in the last 4 years, 76% of jaywalking tickets were issued in the Downtown Eastside. They also found that 95% of street vending tickets were also issued in the DTES.

The police claim that they issue more tickets because there are more jaywalking and vending offenses committed in the area, but a report funded by the city and produced by VANDU, found that of the locations monitored, the DTES had the second lowest percentage of jaywalkers.

PIVOT says that the ticketing is due to the Vancouver Police Department's policy of proactive policing which means the police are on the street looking for criminal behavior which ends up in racial and economic profiling.