Stephen Harrison
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stephenharrison.bsky.social
Stephen Harrison
@stephenharrison.bsky.social
460 followers 160 following 780 posts
Victoria, B.C. needsmorespikes.com
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stephenharrison.bsky.social
Stephen Harrison @stephenharrison.bsky.social · Apr 8
Sometimes I file freedom of information requests. Here’s a thread with some of those past FOIs (mostly VicPD). If you have an idea and need help filing your own, I’m happy to try to assist! #yyj #cdnfoi
Reposted by Stephen Harrison
deanbeeby.bsky.social
List of suspected Nazi war criminals welcomed in Canada should stay secret, information watchdog rules
By Marie Woolf
theglobeandmail.com/politics/art... #cdnfoi #cdnpoli
List of suspected Nazi war criminals welcomed in Canada should stay secret, information watchdog rules
Commissioner accepts argument that releasing names could damage relations with a foreign power
theglobeandmail.com
January 26, 2026 at 1:14 PM
Reposted by Stephen Harrison
defundvicpd.bsky.social
🚨Just two days left to provide feedback on the city’s draft financial plan. We’ve made it easy just check out our website for resources ⬇️ 🚨Or you can simply email council and say “Dont hire 25 more cops!” #yyj #DefundVicPD
defundvicpd.bsky.social Defund VicPD @defundvicpd.bsky.social · Jan 11
Visit our website for details on how to provide feedback on the updated 2026-2030 Draft Financial Plan. Comments must be submitted by January 23 at 11:59 pm! And share with your friends and family! #yyj #deFundVicPD defundvicpd.org/2026/01/08/v...
A pie chart showing the city of victoria plans a 10.44% property tax increase, with 5.42% going to the city a s 5.02% going to cops
January 22, 2026 at 7:01 PM
Reposted by Stephen Harrison
eikonos.bsky.social
If you live in #yyj you have until January 23rd to write in opposing this year's increase in the police budget.
Victoria’s Draft Budget Input Opportunity
It’s that time of year again, time to “HAVE YOUR SAY”! If you live in Victoria, tell Mayor and Council to reject a 14% budget increase for VicPD, including hiring 25 more officers…
defundvicpd.org
January 22, 2026 at 5:36 AM
stephenharrison.bsky.social
There’s a #yyj police board meeting at 5:00 pm. Will follow along on this thread, if it streams (the board doesn't know). Agenda includes two items where VicPD will likely repeat recent talking points. Agenda: vicpd.ca/wp-content/u... Possible stream: www.youtube.com/channel/UCKK... #vicpdboard 🧵
VICTORIA & ESQUIMALT POLICE BOARD Public Meeting Agenda January 20, 2026 at 5:00pm Boardroom & Zoom 1. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT a. Territorial Acknowledgement 2. STANDING ITEMS a. Declarations of Conflict of Interest b. Adoption of the Public Agenda of January 20, 2026 c. Adoption of the Public Minutes of December 16, 2025 (Not available) d. Board Chair Update e. Committees Update (No updates this month) f. Board Member Engagement Update g. BC Association of Police Boards (BCAPB) and Canadian Association of Police Governance (CAPG) Update h. Chief Constable Update i. Deputy Chief Constables Update 3. NEW BUSINESS a. Update: Beat Team / Bylaw Deployment (DC McRae) b. Update: Decriminalization Pilot Project and Impact on Members (Chief Wilson) 4. RISE & REPORT (when applicable)
January 21, 2026 at 12:38 AM
stephenharrison.bsky.social
Saw what looks like an AI-generated letter in Vic News from a resident talking up VicPD. They have a $760,000 PR budget, let them write their own stuff.
January 20, 2026 at 5:50 AM
stephenharrison.bsky.social
Good article here, hopefully Luamba's case succeeds. Police traffic enforcement is not neutral. Locally, VicPD's data suggests they target Black, Hispanic, Middle Eastern, and South Asian drivers. #yyj 1/2
Table of annual statistics for 'driver' category in VicPD general occurrence reports, 2016 to 2021. Totals are: 2016: 1880; 2017: 1501; 2018: 1633; 2019: 1348; 2020: 964; 2021: 819. Also includes table showing that Black people made up 2.43% of people in VicPD's "driver" category, but only 1.43% of the population. For Hispanic people, it was 1.14% of "drivers" (0.89% of population); for Middle Eastern people, 2.65% of "drivers" (1.12% of population); and for South Asian people, 4.87% of "drivers" (1.97% of population).
January 19, 2026 at 4:13 PM
Reposted by Stephen Harrison
kehyslop.bsky.social
My @thetyee.ca piece today, part of an ongoing series looking at persistent issues in B.C. public education.
thetyee.ca The Tyee @thetyee.ca · 25d
During the 2024 provincial election, the NDP pledged to place a mental health counsellor in every public school in the province.

Over a year later, this pledge remains unfulfilled. @kehyslop.bsky.social reports. #bcpoli #bced
How School Counsellors Help Kids Through Tough Times | The Tyee
Norberta Heinrichs on mental health, substance use and student and community needs. A Tyee Q&A.
thetyee.ca
January 16, 2026 at 7:15 PM
Reposted by Stephen Harrison
pinakographos.bsky.social
This has been making the BlueSky rounds again, so I'll give it my own little boost.
pinakographos.bsky.social Daniel Huffman @pinakographos.bsky.social · Nov 11
I arrive here having finished a major, multi-month project: creating a posters in a hachure style reminiscent of centuries past. Have a look: terrainlines.etsy.com.

There's a free ebook, too! somethingaboutmaps.wordpress.com/2024/10/31/a...

If you could share them around, I would be grateful!
A black and white sketch of Mount Hood, seen from a roughly ground level view. It is in a black frame, and on a blue background. Off to the left are a vertically stacked series of smaller images, too small to read. Each is different-looking, but all are black and white miniature versions of posters. The miniature version of the Mount Hood poster is highlighted in white. Sample images of three monochrome posters each prepared in a line drawing style. One shows Mount Rainier, another Katahdin, and the last one shows Devil's tower. The posters are stacked on top of each other and the Mount Rainier one is partially rolled up. A detailed zoom in of a hachured representation of the Presidential Range, with peaks labeled. A vertical-orientation poster titled "The Seven Summits" — it shows black and white sketches of seven different peaks, the highest on each continent. The peak sketches alternate between being positioned on the left and the right side of the poster. Next to each is a label naming the mountain and giving its location. The poster is framed on a blue background.
January 17, 2026 at 8:09 PM
stephenharrison.bsky.social
VicPD talked on their podcast about how they may involve themselves in the 2026 municipal elections, just like they did last time. Police in politics in #yyj! I left in the lead-in from 2022 where they complained about Isitt comparing the library budget to theirs. open.spotify.com/episode/2xyy...
Todd Mason, 17m 00s: But we got to remember the last few years, first of all, as I can remember, the budget that's been given to us has just been to keep the lights on. That's what they've had to pare it down to, is okay, this is the budget to keep the lights on. And that's the budget we've gotten. So we haven’t had the money to update the fleet, hire officers above attrition, all that sort of stuff. Angela van Eerd, VicPD union president: We're playing catch up. Mason: We are playing catch up. Van Eerd: We are playing massive catch up. Mason: A decade long. Tom Stamatakis, Jr., VicPD union executive board member and media spokesperson: Massive catch up. Mason: So that's why this next election is so huge. If you value public safety and value officers who are not burning out all the time, then you got to get out and vote for people who support public safety. It's as simple as that. … Stamatakis, Jr., 18m 50s: So in terms of the municipal elections, last municipal elections in 2022, we actually were, the union was quite progressive and we conducted a symposium, an online virtual symposium where we invited all the new city councillor electorates to come online. And we had two because there was a lot of candidates. I can't remember how many, but there was like, I think there was like 20 or something like that. And so basically asked each councillor what their views on public safety and specific questions surrounding safety in the City of Victoria, just to give voters the opportunity to see exactly what each person, what their thoughts were and how they were going to progress. We actually got a lot of props from our partners from across Canada. And yeah, we're still debating if we're going to do it again this upcoming year. … And so, yeah, we’ll see what’s going to come with that. Transcript from True Blue Podcast, “VCPU director at large Tom Stamatakis” (02/25/22) Stamatakis, Jr., 26m 00s: I, I think it's just the pivotal road that we need to take in order to get our messaging out. Whether that be social media, um, these podcasts or generally for us to reach out and have people understand the challenges. And not only that, but to also reach out to the demographic of people that maybe, um, haven't heard our voices before. And that is also in an effort to get people out there to vote when it comes time for municipal elections. … Stamatakis, Jr., 27m 00s: I think we, as our union, and the way I would like to move forward in terms of marketing and in media is, is getting out there more so that people understand. … Transcript from True Blue Podcast, “VCPU director at large Tom Stamatakis” (02/25/22) Stamatakis, Jr., 30m 32s: … Ben Isitt comes out with this ideological comment. He's like, “Wouldn't it be great to live in a world where the city librarians get the police budget and the police have to work within the library budget?” And I'm like looking around like what the fuck you know, like what world, that's not even comparing apples and oranges, that's like comparing apples with like this chair. … Matt Waterman: But that, and I agree with you that that's, we're doing it here and I know it's been kind of talked about and from a marketing standpoint or public relations standpoint, is we wanna do it as the, as the next municipal election rolls around, we wanna be out there letting people know that, hey, we're tired of this rhetoric. Garbage rhetoric. Uh, and we want some action. And, and, but the important part is, you're right. We've talked about it. We need to, we need to reach out to the voter that's gonna make a difference. Cause guys who call up in the radio station and say the same thing that live in Central Saanich, it doesn't affect, uh, the outcome of an election. You know, they're not a voter. So, uh, we've talked about it. It's, it's a challenge to get those people out, but, uh, I'm hopeful that we can help influence people. Stamatakis, Jr.: Yeah. So in preparation for that, I think we're, we're structuring in terms of the committee that we have for marketing in just having a structure to see how we roll it out. And plan it out. Um, what's gonna be different avenues that we can reach out to the most amount of people and, and just get more and more people involved. I mean, municipal politics have never been a huge turnout, but I think, yeah, the things that have happened in Victoria recently, it's a pretty hot topic and uh, our hope is that more and more people get out there that will support public safety.
January 14, 2026 at 5:50 AM
Reposted by Stephen Harrison
defundvicpd.bsky.social
Visit our website for details on how to provide feedback on the updated 2026-2030 Draft Financial Plan. Comments must be submitted by January 23 at 11:59 pm! And share with your friends and family! #yyj #deFundVicPD defundvicpd.org/2026/01/08/v...
A pie chart showing the city of victoria plans a 10.44% property tax increase, with 5.42% going to the city a s 5.02% going to cops
January 11, 2026 at 10:19 PM
Reposted by Stephen Harrison
defundvicpd.bsky.social
Please share!
If you are a Victoria resident you have until Jan 23 to tell Mayor and Council to reject a 14% budget increase for VicPD. Councillors want specifics, so tell them not to hire 25 new officers! Easy template and emails on our blog: defundvicpd.org/2026/01/08/v... #yyj #defundVicPD
Victoria’s Draft Budget Input Opportunity
It’s that time of year again, time to “HAVE YOUR SAY”! If you live in Victoria, tell Mayor and Council to reject a 14% budget increase for VicPD, including hiring 25 more officers…
defundvicpd.org
January 8, 2026 at 9:36 PM
stephenharrison.bsky.social
I wrote this post about Del Manak's legacy as chief. It seems relevant today when he's made it clear he's considering a mayoral run. www.needsmorespikes.com/blog/del-man... #yyj
January 7, 2026 at 12:52 AM
stephenharrison.bsky.social
VicPD files an average of two use of force reports a day. And they use a weapon on someone, or threaten to use a weapon on someone, an average of once a day.
January 3, 2026 at 12:41 AM
Reposted by Stephen Harrison
defundvicpd.bsky.social
“Is this a pigeon?” Meme. The person is labelled “city of victoria council” and the butterfly is labelled “police dogs biting handcuffed suspects” - below it says “Is this a public safety plan?”
January 3, 2026 at 12:37 AM
Reposted by Stephen Harrison
kwardvancouver.bsky.social
42 people died from unregulated drugs while in a medical facility between January 1 2023 and August 31 2025 in British Columbia

Here is the list.

Remember when people were complaining about drug users in hospitals ?
Unintentional unregulated drug toxicity deaths by medical facility of injury, January 1 2023 - August 31 2025 2023 Fraser Health Abbotsford Hospital : 2 Burnaby Hospital : 1 Royal Columbian Hospital : 1 Surrey Memorial Hospital : 2 Interior health Cara Centre : 1 Island health Nanaimo regional hospital : 1 Seven Oaks Mental Health : 1 Vancouver Coastal Richmond hospital : 2 St Paul’s hospital : 2 Vancouver general : 4 2024 Fraser Health Caremax medical clinic : 1 Interior health East Kootenay hospital : 1 Kelowna hospital : 1 Penticton hospital : 1 Royal Inland hospital : 1 Island Nanaimo regional hospital : 2 Panama house : 1 Royal jubilee hospital : 1 Vancouver Coastal Dr Peter Centre : 1 Mount Saint Joseph’s : 1 St Paul’s : 6 2025 Fraser Health Chilliwack general : 1 Timber Creek Tertiary Care : 1 Interior health Kelowna general : 1 Island health Eagle park health care facility : 1 Wexford Creek long term care : 1 Northern health Dunrovin Park Lodge : 1 Vancouver Coastal St Paul’s hospital : 2
January 2, 2026 at 10:33 PM
Reposted by Stephen Harrison
stephenharrison.bsky.social
Stories about officers misusing police databases to look people up who they shouldn't are incredibly common. And yet, when I asked VicPD for copies of any audits they'd done to look for unauthorized database use, they said "no audits have been conducted" over the six-year period I asked about. (1/2)
RE: Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (the Act) VicPD FOI No. 2023-1334 I am responding to your correspondence received by this department on June 26, 2023, requesting “Copies of any audits of PRIME usage (e.g. reports on reviewing for unauthorized queries or browsing, or any other audits conducted) 2017 to present.”. Please be advised that there were no records responsive to you request. Please note that no audits have been conducted of PRIME usage. If believe that the Victoria Police Department is in possession of the record you seek, please contact me with more information.
December 19, 2025 at 4:13 AM
stephenharrison.bsky.social
Stories about officers misusing police databases to look people up who they shouldn't are incredibly common. And yet, when I asked VicPD for copies of any audits they'd done to look for unauthorized database use, they said "no audits have been conducted" over the six-year period I asked about. (1/2)
RE: Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (the Act) VicPD FOI No. 2023-1334 I am responding to your correspondence received by this department on June 26, 2023, requesting “Copies of any audits of PRIME usage (e.g. reports on reviewing for unauthorized queries or browsing, or any other audits conducted) 2017 to present.”. Please be advised that there were no records responsive to you request. Please note that no audits have been conducted of PRIME usage. If believe that the Victoria Police Department is in possession of the record you seek, please contact me with more information.
December 19, 2025 at 4:13 AM
Reposted by Stephen Harrison
sobittersosweet.bsky.social
When I went to the energy ministry for a response to the story I was writing, I was told some of the info I'd received should have been redacted because it was commercially sensitive

They asked me not to write the story or share the info

They deleted the package from the public FOI request log
December 19, 2025 at 12:28 AM
stephenharrison.bsky.social
There’s a #yyj police board meeting at 5:00 pm today. Will try to follow along here. Not much to post about beforehand, as they’ve stopped posting detailed agendas with attachments. Public agenda: vicpd.ca/wp-content/u... Stream: www.youtube.com/channel/UCKK... #vicpdboard 🧵
VICTORIA & ESQUIMALT POLICE BOARD Public Meeting Agenda Dec 16, 2025 at 5:00pm Boardroom & Zoom 1. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT a. Territorial Acknowledgement 2. STANDING ITEMS a. Declarations of Conflict of Interest b. Adoption of the Public Agenda of December 16, 2025 c. Adoption of the Public Minutes of November 18, 2025 d. Board Chair Update e. Committees Update f. Board Member Engagement Update g. BC Association of Police Boards (BCAPB) and Canadian Association of Police Governance (CAPG) Update - Chair Hayes h. Chief Constable Update i. Deputy Chief Constables Update 3. CORRESPONDENCE (Information Only) a. 251112 Letter of Support from Victoria Mayor re Island JI Pg. 6 b. 251212 Order in Council re VEPB Director Reappointments Pg. 8 c. 251208 Letter from Public re Police Presence at Christmas Parade – for discussion.
December 17, 2025 at 12:46 AM
stephenharrison.bsky.social
Update: VicPD told CHEK the discrepancy between OT in its budgets and the FOI data is that its budgets also count "standby" pay as OT. That means that in addition to officers' base pay and $5.1 million in OT, VicPD paid out about $1.3 million in standby pay in 2024. cheknews.ca/17-vicpd-off... #yyj
December 16, 2025 at 12:53 AM
Reposted by Stephen Harrison
thetyee.ca
A brief mention of an abusive relationship between a Vancouver police officer and a teen he met at school in a recent watchdog report shows a need for more transparency around the identities of officers who commit misconduct, says a civil liberties advocate.

@kehyslop.bsky.social reports. #vanpoli
VPD Officer Was Quietly Investigated over an Abusive Relationship with Teen | The Tyee
A police watchdog report does not reveal the officer’s name or the school where he met the teenage girl.
thetyee.ca
December 12, 2025 at 3:29 PM
stephenharrison.bsky.social
I heard someone mention Del Manak today! Here's a post on his time as chief. He spoke positively about an officer accused of sexual assault, "reamed out" a publisher, and said VPD handcuffing an Indigenous man and his 12-year-old granddaughter after they tried to open a bank account was justified.
December 10, 2025 at 5:30 AM
Reposted by Stephen Harrison
stephenharrison.bsky.social
While VicPD is asking for an $11 million, 14% budget increase in 2026, new FOI data shows that from 2022 to 2024, 48 VicPD officers made over $50,000 in overtime in a single year, with two constables pocketing over $100,000 in extra pay in 2022. www.needsmorespikes.com/blog/vicpd-o... #yyj #cdnfoi
VicPD officers make up to $108,000 in overtime — Needs More Spikes
While VicPD is asking for an $11 million, 14% budget increase in 2026, new FOI data shows that from 2022 to 2024, 48 VicPD officers made over $50,000 in overtime in a single year, with two constables ...
www.needsmorespikes.com
December 5, 2025 at 3:36 PM
Reposted by Stephen Harrison
defundvicpd.bsky.social
City Council: “This is hard. Residents should bring forward concrete ways to trim the budget.”

Us: “Ok. Dont hire 25 new cops.”

Council: “Not like that!”
#yyj #Defundvicpd

www.timescolonist.com/local-news/v...
Victoria mayor says tax hike could drop below double digits, but not much more
As it stands, the city’s portion of a tax hike would be 5.4 per cent, but the Victoria police budget represents a tax hike of 5.02 per cent, for a total of more than 10 per cent.
www.timescolonist.com
December 4, 2025 at 4:07 PM
Reposted by Stephen Harrison
kwardvancouver.bsky.social
“The Lovejoy Trap is […] also frighteningly effective at packaging extreme inhumanity as being necessary “for the children.” It leapfrogs right over any discussion of the facts because it feels like life or death.”

www.liberalcurrents.com/the-lovejoy-...
December 6, 2025 at 12:12 AM