Random Violent Attacks in Vancouver/BC

[-dlc-]

Seeing the horrific knife attacks that happened in Vancouver this week where one man's hand was cut off and another man lost his life is so disturbing and becoming all too familiar.

 

What the hell is this world coming to? Where people can't walk down the street on a sunny morning without risk of losing their lives (or their limbs)? Incoherent, unstable strangers wandering the streets and having violent outbursts.

 

The mental health and drug issues in this city/province that are being ignored need to be in the forefront and issues that don't just have bandaids slapped on them. I know some will make this political (it is), but I don't know that any party or group hasn't contributed to the downfall of our city/province over time, it didn't happen overnight and won't be a quick fix but there's dire urgency here.

 

Greed/$$ drives this bus. No one wants to invest in something that is desperately needed...which is a complete overhaul of the mental health system and somewhere to "house" violent offenders who aren't capable of living amongst the public. The closure of Riverview left nothing in place to address these people. This was set into motion as far back as 1987 and so it's been a work in progress until the eventual closure in 2012. Many are responsible for dropping this ball. 

 

Expo '86 invited the world and changed the city...but what came afterward wasn't all great and look at where we are now (I'm not implying Expo was to blame, just that it contributed as things shifted in regard to where $$ was spent and in development that's been greed driven, not community driven).

 

My family lives close to where these attacks took place and it's absolutely unnerving to have this fear blanket the city. Broad daylight...unprovoked.

 

We have a thread about gun violence in the US but we have our own problems here and these knife attacks are happening far too often. Homelessness, drug abuse, mental health....all tied together and all with no effective solution that's improving the situation. 

 

Something needs to be done. (If there is a thread in place, I've missed it and will merge this)

 

 

[bishopshodan]

I heard the knife guy has 60 prior charges on his record. We had a guy acting out over here on the island that had 110 charges.

 

Have to stop the revolving door for repeat offenders. It's also time to take mental health and addiction a lot more serious.

 

Throw money at this problem and get some support and resources. Public safety has to be way higher on the agenda.

 

 

[-dlc-]

2 minutes ago, bishopshodan said:

I heard the knife guy has 60 prior charges on his record. We had a guy acting out over here on the island that had 110 charges.

 

Have to stop the revolving door for repeat offenders. It's also time to take mental health and addiction a lot more serious.

 

Throw money at this problem and get some support and resources. Public safety has to be way higher on the agenda.

 

 

You're absolutely right! And I missed this very important point.

 

This, too, is partly money/resource based as "it costs money" to incarcerate people. But what's the cost when we don't? (Human lives). And the judges making these rulings have to step up and be more accountable. Police have their hands tied when they "know" the perpetrators yet they have to keep dealing with them on a regular basis.

[Bob Long]

We live close to where this happened. It's not surprising to me, you see a lot of stuff downtown but the really scary angry dudes like this, with his history? That's the province and feds letting us down, which @bishopshodan pointed out.

 

Without Sim putting more resources into policing I wonder if they would have caught this guy so quickly. The VPD deserve a lot of credit, I think that they found him within 90 minutes.

 

[Nucker67]

What's it going to take? Some small kid getting attacked and killed? They need to reopen Riverview asap. Citizens that are here pay a LOT to live in these beautiful cities and it's unacceptable that we should have to look over our shoulder or live in fear when we leave the house, take public transportation, etc. 

 

 

[-dlc-]

He was on probation for an assault in 2023. And apparently straying to Vancouver wasn't in violation of his probationary order.

 

Houston, we have a problem here.

 

 

[bishopshodan]

9 minutes ago, Bob Long said:

We live close to where this happened. It's not surprising to me, you see a lot of stuff downtown but the really scary angry dudes like this, with his history? That's the province and feds letting us down, which @bishopshodan pointed out.

 

Without Sim putting more resources into policing I wonder if they would have caught this guy so quickly. The VPD deserve a lot of credit, I think that they found him within 90 minutes.

 

 

I move to Van in 94', lived in the core for 25 years.

 

We always had mental health issues but in the last 10 years-ish things changed.

I used to do Karate demos in Oppenheimer park during Japanese days...could you imagine that? walking around on that grass in bare feet?! It used to be nice, not too long ago.

That was about 15 years ago... 

The city had to endure a couple useless mayors, remember that twit doing nothing about the parks and tent cities? such as Oppenheimer which had soo much violence and criminal activity. 

Just a ridiculous level of negligence from the former leaders.

 

 

 

[Bob Long]

1 minute ago, bishopshodan said:

 

I move to Van in 94', lived in the core for 25 years.

 

We always had mental health issues but in the last 10 years-ish things changed.

I used to do Karate demos in Oppenheimer park during Japanese days...could you imagine that? walking around on that grass in bare feet?! It used to be nice, not too long ago.

That was about 15 years ago... 

The city had to endure a couple useless mayors, remember that twit doing nothing about the parks and tent cities? such as Oppenheimer which had soo much violence and criminal activity. 

Just a ridiculous level of negligence from the former leaders.

 

 

 

 

It's why I like Sim, imo hes actually being effective, at least as much as you can in municipal politics.

 

Nothing he can do about the revolving door or lack of mental health facilities.

 

[bishopshodan]

10 minutes ago, Bob Long said:

 

It's why I like Sim, imo hes actually being effective, at least as much as you can in municipal politics.

 

Nothing he can do about the revolving door or lack of mental health facilities.

 

 

At least he is doing something. The last mayors were tits on a boar

 

As for incarceration, imo there could be simple fixes. More psychiatric facilties makes sense for those that need, like this one...https://www.bcmhsus.ca/forensic-psychiatric-services/forensic-psychiatric-hospital

Our prison rehabilitation system is pretty good. It's these repeat offending outliers that need to be addressed. A large amount of crimes are committed by a rather small amount of people. Once they screw up a few times, throw the book at them, some sort of escalating punishment. 

Edited September 5 by bishopshodan

[-dlc-]

5 minutes ago, bishopshodan said:

 

At least he is doing something. The last mayors were tits on a boar

 

As for incarceration, imo there could be simple fixes. More psychiatric facilties makes sense for those that need, like this one...https://www.bcmhsus.ca/forensic-psychiatric-services/forensic-psychiatric-hospital

Our prison rehabilitation system is pretty good. It's these repeat offending outliers that need to be addressed. A large amount of crimes are committed by a rather small amount of people. Once they screw up a few times, throw the book at them, some sort of escalating punishment. 

I agree...3 strikes you're out. Or in (to stay).

[Bob Long]

30 minutes ago, bishopshodan said:

 

At least he is doing something. The last mayors were tits on a boar

 

As for incarceration, imo there could be simple fixes. More psychiatric facilties makes sense for those that need, like this one...https://www.bcmhsus.ca/forensic-psychiatric-services/forensic-psychiatric-hospital

Our prison rehabilitation system is pretty good. It's these repeat offending outliers that need to be addressed. A large amount of crimes are committed by a rather small amount of people. Once they screw up a few times, throw the book at them, some sort of escalating punishment. 

 

It's great that you can give us a inside view now, I'm sure you see it much clearer than we do who aren't working with this group.

 

 

[Ghostsof1915]

52 minutes ago, Bob Long said:

 

It's why I like Sim, imo hes actually being effective, at least as much as you can in municipal politics.

 

Nothing he can do about the revolving door or lack of mental health facilities.

 

WTF are you talking about? He another in a long line of pro-developers, trying to kill the parks board, and is getting nothing done. 

The sewer improvements on Oak and 70th are a total joke the way it's organized. I've seen minor road rage incidents down on 71st.,  basically 50 yards from my apartment. 

Strangely Broadway Skytrain project has had less traffic foul ups. Sim is a power hungry jackass, in a long line of jackass mayors. 

What's he done for the police? What has he done with the Province and Feds to try to address homeless? When I was downtown on the bus I've never seen so many homeless people on Granville. It's getting worse not better. 

[Bob Long]

18 minutes ago, Ghostsof1915 said:

WTF are you talking about? He another in a long line of pro-developers, trying to kill the parks board, and is getting nothing done. 

The sewer improvements on Oak and 70th are a total joke the way it's organized. I've seen minor road rage incidents down on 71st.,  basically 50 yards from my apartment. 

Strangely Broadway Skytrain project has had less traffic foul ups. Sim is a power hungry jackass, in a long line of jackass mayors. 

What's he done for the police? What has he done with the Province and Feds to try to address homeless? When I was downtown on the bus I've never seen so many homeless people on Granville. It's getting worse not better. 

 

https://www.canada.ca/en/public-safety-canada/news/2024/02/the-government-of-canada-invests-in-crime-prevention-in-vancouver.html#

 

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/vancouver-council-funding-1.6660027

 

 

[Master Mind]

I'm in Ontario, and it sounds like our situations are unfortunately similar.

 

My wife and daughters no longer feel comfortable visiting downtown even during the day.

[HOCKEYGOD77]

WALKI IN PAIRS OR CARRY BEAR SPRAY ORWHATEVER...SELF DEFENCE IF YOU NEED TO ...ITS CRAZY BUT CANT LIVE IN FEAR..THESE YAHOOS ARE JUST THAT..NO JOB OR MONEY OR COUNSELLING WILL HELP..THATS THE WAY THE BALL BOUNCES..SEND THE CRAZY ONES TO AN ISOLATED GULF ISLAND WHICH THE PROVINCE OWNS A FEW..GIVE THEM ALL THE CLEAN DRUGS TENTS WOOD NAILS AND FOOD...THAT WILL SAVE MILLIONS AND OFF THE PUBLIC STREETS.

[PureQuickness]

I get that it costs money to get anything done, but there's too many people trying to make money while neglecting the infrastructures to support the city. People who should be treated should not be on the streets like this. As posters mentioned before, with 60 incidents, we cannot just let people 'roam free'. It's stupid.

[112]

There are no cities in North America where stuff like this doesn't happen. Vancouver isn't an outlier.

[Canuck You]

Just saying...Maybe if our government stopped sending billions of dollars for other countries problems and wars but instead started cleaning up their own backyard we'd have more finances to work with and things would be a lil more 'cleaner'.....and we wouldn't be bitching about grocery prices as much.

Edited September 5 by Canuck You

[JoeyJoeJoeJr. Shabadoo]

10 minutes ago, Canuck You said:

Just saying...Maybe if our government stopped sending billions of dollars for other countries problems and wars but instead started cleaning up their own backyard we'd have more finances to work with and things would be a lil more 'cleaner'.....and we wouldn't be bitching about grocery prices as much.

And we'd be doing all of it in German. 

[Goose]

I dont know-I constantly hear the “increase mental health services” phrase but in reality Im not sure how effective it would be.  You cant force people into services, and many of the most aggressive individuals who might have a disorder probably arnt keen on it either.

 

Increased policing isnt going to stop incidents in real time before bad consequences happen.  Perhaps a small deterrent but that’s it.

 

Personally, the shift to allowing the street population to congregate/camp in large numbers in public spaces combined with un affordability has been a recipe for disaster.  And it’s only going to get worse imo.

[Gurn]

Step 1- close the mental health hospitals

Step 2- tell the people that the proceeds of selling all that land, will go to mental health out reach.

Step 3- pocket most of the money.

----------------------

Hey, what went wrong?

 

Powell River, and province- "Hey let's open a drug addict housing facility"

"And lets put it right beside the Kiwanis seniors housing building, and across the street from the Quality Foods store,- you know the one that's rumoured to be closing due to insane amounts of shoplifting."

 

What could possibly go wrong?

[-dlc-]

3 hours ago, Goose said:

I dont know-I constantly hear the “increase mental health services” phrase but in reality Im not sure how effective it would be.  You cant force people into services, and many of the most aggressive individuals who might have a disorder probably arnt keen on it either.

 

Increased policing isnt going to stop incidents in real time before bad consequences happen.  Perhaps a small deterrent but that’s it.

 

Personally, the shift to allowing the street population to congregate/camp in large numbers in public spaces combined with un affordability has been a recipe for disaster.  And it’s only going to get worse imo.

Quote

British Columbia's Mental Health Act allows us to admit and treat people with serious mental health issues who are a risk to themselves or others. People who are certified under the Mental Health Act will be treated involuntarily for a mental disorder.

 

Keen on it or not, want out of jail? Here's how it'll be done.

 

 

[fanfor42]

Health care is primarily a provincial government responsibility.  

 

This is a provincial government issue.  Decision to legalize hard drugs. Decisions to ignore crime caused by marginalized people who are hot being cared for are the fault of the current provincial government.

 

Kick out Eby and install a conservative government to fix these problems.  Gotta get tough now or we are going to lose what we love about living here.

 

You can go back to loving the NDP in a few years after these obvious issues get cleaned up.

 

For god sakes does anyone want to see their kids witnessing the drug use on the streets and buses and out in the public that we have now?  I am 6 feet 200 lbs and I don't feel safe walking around parts of downtown. How do women and children feel?

 

Enough.

[-Buzzsaw-]

Sims is not an improvement.  He is a Realtor lobbyist... all about cutting taxes to developers and gutting social services.  He has done nothing to deal with the issues on the streets.  Not to mention he has some fishy familial connections to China and the Communist government there.

 

The problem with the people on the street is a function of multiple factors

 

-  Closing mental health hospitals and relying on self administered anti-schizophrenia drugs to solve behavior problems... typically psychiatric patients will go off their meds and off the deep end behaviorally on a regular basis unless they are monitored constantly.

 

-  China turning a blind eye to Chinese companies in China and Burma wholesaling Fentanyl and derivatives to Mexican Gangsters and other neer'do wells in Canada and the US who then manufacture the street drugs and flood our streets with cheap highs... US and Canada need to take a hard line with Chinese and Burmese Governments and other governments who allow the base ingredients to be churned out and ordered over the internet like candy.  I would not be surprised in the least to find out this is hidden Chinese Government policy to undermine Western Societies.

 

-  Lack of treatment facilities... and please don't blame the injection drug sites for the problems... unless you are an advocate for the mass euthanization of anyone who even touches these drugs... many fatal OD's are ordinary high school kids who are dabbling in the latest fad high.  If they don't OD immediately, they end up hooked.  There needs to be programs in place in the schools so the problems can be caught early.  And yes, for long term addicts with psychiatric problems, this may need to include involuntary commitment to treatment centers or hospitals if behavior continues.

 

-  There were just as many drunks on the streets in the Downtown Eastside in the '60's, '70's and '80's, the difference now is the drug of choice is far more dangerous to the users.  Drunks rarely OD'd...  Fentanyl or Car-Fentanyl users are expected to OD multiple times a year.  If someone is not there immediately to administer an antidote, they're dead.  But the violent crime down there at that time was just as bad... tons of murders related to alcohol abuse.

 

 

[Gurn]

1 minute ago, fanfor42 said:

Decision to legalize hard drugs.

Federal government, not provincial.