A so-called “real time intelligence centre” that will cost $5.8 million per year to operate is expected to open in May and promises to help police officers in Metro Vancouver quickly identify and locate dangerous criminals.
The centre will replace the Provincial Intelligence Centre, which was set up in 2010 with 22 staff and operated 14 hours per day primarily to fight gang violence in Metro Vancouver but served as a resource for all agencies in B.C.
“Its mandate is violent gangs and it does not have the capacity to offer real-time operational support to frontline officers,” said a Vancouver Police Department report that goes before the Vancouver Police Board Thursday. “Due to recent technological advancements, police agencies now have the ability to store, search, retrieve and analyze vast amounts of data and link seemingly unconnected criminal events. However, in B.C. there is only limited interoperability between various law enforcement databases.”
For example, the report said, the RCMP, VPD, federal and provincial corrections and the B.C. Sheriffs each have their own “human source” intelligence databases. The new multi-agency centre will assist police in “overcoming challenges associated with jurisdictional boundaries, fiscal restraint and limited resources,” the report said.
The centre will have 43 officers and civilian staff, operate around the clock and serve police forces in Metro Vancouver, including the VPD which will devote five staff to the centre.
The new centre will provide immediate analytical support for such crimes as homicides, sex assaults, armed robberies, hostage takings, terrorism, “high-risk” missing persons, gang violence and active shooter incidents, the report said.
“Analysts working within [the new centre] will have a far greater breadth and depth of access to police and law enforcement databases that dispatchers, police officers and municipal police analysts simply do not have,” the report said. “Additionally, B.C. police believe it is important to have the capacity to quickly assimilate the high volume of information and intelligence that would stream from the public and various government agencies, if a large scale criminal incident that crossed multiple jurisdictions was to occur.”
The report noted the Missing Women Commission of Inquiry, which revealed jurisdictional problems between police forces in the hunt for a serial killer, recommended the creation of a regional “real time crime centre,” which the B.C. Ministry of Justice incorporated into last year’s B.C. Policing and Safety Plan.
Municipalities will fund 50 per cent of the $5.8 million annual operating cost, with the provincial and federal governments covering the balance. Each municipality’s share was calculated on a formula that combined a five-year average of Criminal Code offences and population.
That means Vancouver will be responsible for 12 per cent of the total budget, or $700,000 per year. This year’s tab, however, will be $395,000 because the centre needs to get set up and additional costs will be added incrementally.
In future years, the centre is expected to expand to include the Victoria Capital Regional District and the rest of the province. Such a centre will not be unique to North America, with Calgary and more than 70 cities in the United States operating similar systems.
A recent study involving the Memphis Police Department revealed a 30 per cent decrease in total serious crime and 20 per cent in violent crime since its centre began operating in 2006.
The VPD declined to elaborate on the report or disclose the location of the centre until police present the report to the police board Thursday. The meeting begins at 1 p.m. at the Cambie Street headquarters.
