The British Columbia Civil Liberties Association is filing a policy complaint and demanding that the Vancouver Police Department explain its misleading press release about an alleged “assault” on police officers in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. A VPD media release issued two days after incident alleges that on June 26th a homeless Sudanese refugee named Ali Eltah Ishag “allegedly began to actively resist and fight” after officers attempted to arrest him and that, “The man [Ishag] continually tried to disarm one of the officers by trying to pull the officer’s gun out of its holster.”
However, a surveillance videotape released by Megaphone Magazine shows Ishag being held by both arms by two officers while the two officers knee him. Ishag at that point begins to attempt to protect himself by pushing the officers away. Before the action moves out of camera range, Ishag’s hands are visible well above and away from the gun belts of both officers.
“When the police issue a press release, the public expects it to be a full, true and plain report
of what actually happened,” said Robert Holmes, President of the BCCLA. “The video evidence here appears so much at odds with what the VPD reported that an explanation is required not just of this event, but of how the VPD crafts its news releases generally.” The BCCLA is calling for the release of all video footage held by the VPD to the public, a full investigation by an independent police department of the incident, and the misleading media release, and in a complaint calls for the Vancouver Police Board to revisit VPD media policy to ensure misleading information is not released again.
“What makes this even more a matter of public concern is that the VPD press release was issued days after the incident and, as we are advised, after VPD investigators had the video,” said Holmes. “The VPD owe Mr. Ishag an apology and a retraction, and owe the public a full explanation and assurances this will not happen again.”
Read the BCCLA policy complaint here >>
See the video of the incident here >>
MEDIA CONTACTS:
Robert Holmes, President, 604-838-6856
David Eby, Executive Director, 778-865-7997
BACKGROUNDER
The Vancouver Police Department maintains a public relations department that has a budget of more than $1,000,000 annually. In its 2010 Business Plan, the VPD identified that it needed to work “To improve communication and public engagement in crime prevention and VPD services” and “promote accountability.” The BC Police Code of Ethics requires that the VPD “provide open, responsive, impartial and accessible service” and “safeguard the public trust” by being “responsible to the public and accountable publicly” for what officers do.
Frank Paul – December, 1998 – 2008
The VPD tell media that Frank Paul left the VPD jail under his own power. Video later shows he was dragged out by police officers. VPD then tell the aboriginal community that Paul was left by an officer under an overhang at the door of the Vancouver detox facility, when at the inquiry it becomes clear Paul was left in an unprotected area of the back lane.
Michael Vann Hubbard – March, 2009
The VPD clarify a media statement that suggested that VPD shooting victim Michael Vann Hubbard, a homeless man, was a “suspect” in a car break in. They say that although they told the media “he matched the [suspect’s] description and his bag appeared the same”, they “never said that he was the individual who broke into the car” saying that media “jumped to the conclusion”. The suggestion that Hubbard was a car thief was not publicly corrected by the VPD until after the BCCLA released information it had obtained from Hubbard’s family. Ya Wei Wu – January, 2010
The VPD were forced to retract a media statement about the police beating of Ya Wei Wu, apologizing for releasing a statement that Mr. Wu “resisted arrest” before the investigation was complete. No information released since has suggested that Mr. Wu resisted anything other than unlawful use of force by VPD officers. Olympic tent city – February, 2010
In response to concerns that the VPD were sending undercover police officers to the Olympic tent city, a VPD spokesman tells the Georgia Straight that one of the three officers that attended and was the subject of the complaints was in uniform, and not in plain clothes as activists suggest. Videotape taken by legal observers shows that all three officers identified at the tent city were in plain clothes. Ali Ishag – June, 2010
The VPD issue a media statement that a physical confrontation between police and a homeless man, Ali Ishag, was started by the homeless man and not by police. A video record of the incident contradicts the statement, showing a police officer aggressively kneeing Mr. Ishag twice before Mr. Ishag resists.
Link to the BC Police Code of Ethics: http://www.saanichpolice.ca/about/bcpolicecode.pdf
VPD 2010 Business Plan: http://vancouver.ca/police/assets/pdf/2010-business-plan.pdf
