The citys deputy city manager says he doesnt anticipate the Vancouver Police Department will run a deficit this year despite spending almost $600,000 to monitor the now-defunct Occupy protest outside the Vancouver Art Gallery.
Sadhu Johnston said Tuesday that more bills could trickle in from the VPD but believed 99 per cent of the policing tab for the protest has been calculated. I dont believe that theyre going to come in in the red, Johnston said of the VPD, whose chief warned in October the department could face a deficit because of costs associated with the protest.
Deputy Chief Adam Palmer told the Vancouver Police Board at a recent meeting that all costs will be finalized by early January. The police board held off writing a letter to city council warning them of a possible deficit until January.
As of Dec. 15, the citys overall tab for managing the protest was $981,103, with $590,000 of that incurred by the VPD and another $345,878 from the citys engineering department. The citys emergency operations centre spent $28,494 and Vancouver Fire-Rescue billed for $16,730. The VPDs costs were largely associated to overtime, with the department spending $394,000 in the first five days of the protest, which began Oct. 15 outside the art gallery.
Retrospect is 20/20, Johnston said of the police presence in the first few days of the protest. If we didnt have resources on the ground, and there was a riot the first day, we would have been criticized for not having enough resources on the ground.
In preparation for the first day of the protest, which was part a worldwide movement aimed at corporate greed, Johnston said it was difficult to predict the size of the crowd. The citys management team also heard rumours that some protesters were prepared to deploy the black bloc tactic of wearing masks and causing destruction and violence.
Once we realized it was largely peaceful, we really ramped back on the staffing on site virtually after that first weekend, Johnston said.
Comparatively, the city of Portland, Ore. spent more than $1.4 million in policing and park restoration related to managing its Occupy protest.
In Oakland, Calif., where violence ensued, the city spent more than $2.4 million and in New York City, where the movement began, overtime policing costs reached more than $7 million. The city is still waiting to hear back from Toronto, Calgary and Edmonton on their costs.
Johnston said the city can be proud of the peaceful resolution to protest in Vancouver, which is in contrast to violence and conflict in other cities.
The city sought an injunction to end the encampment outside the art gallery which protesters largely abided with but continue to set up one-day protests around the city.
Were disappointed that we had these costs and we were frustrated by the global movement that we were thrown into, Johnston added. But overall, we feel that our staff managed it responsiblywe tried to do it in a way that reduced our costs as much as we could, while protecting the publics safety and private land.
Costs for city lawyers to seek the court injunction are not included in the citys tab. Thats because the case was part of the legal teams daily work.
The city also saved costs with hotel rooms used by city staff monitoring the protest. Johnston wouldnt say which hotels but said hotel management offered the rooms at no charge.
mhowell@vancourier.com
Twitter: @Howellings
