IAPE Evidence Blog

The Province, Pacific News­pa­per Group Inc., theprovince.com
BYLINE: SUSAN LAZARUK, The Province, slazaruk@theprovince.com
Link to Article

Van­cou­ver, BC

Prop­erty cut­so­dian Terry Zulynik looks over a con­fis­cated weapon at the new Van­cou­ver Police Prop­erty Office and Foren­sic Stor­age Facil­ity on Jan. 24. The newly-opened $45 mil­lion facil­ity was a col­lab­o­ra­tive effort between the city, provin­cial, and fed­eral gov­ern­ments. Pho­to­graph by: Jenelle Schnei­der, PNG

Van­cou­ver police now have four times the space to process and store the 425,000 pieces of evi­dence they’ve col­lected over decades of police work.

Tues­day saw the offi­cial open­ing of the new foren­sics and prop­erty stor­age build­ing in East Vancouver.

The newly-built 87,000-square foot build­ing on Glen Drive near VCC-Clark Sky­Train Sta­tion is “500 times bet­ter” than the old build­ing at 312 Main St, says the building’s man­ager, Ian Wightman.

Van­cou­ver police offi­cially opened that build­ing and a sec­ond build­ing near Bound­ary Road, that will be home to inves­ti­ga­tion teams, includ­ing detec­tives, and admin­is­tra­tive depart­ments. That build­ing used to house VANOC work­ers for the 2010 Win­ter Games.

The two cost three lev­els of gov­ern­ment $45 million.

“These new facil­i­ties will improve the effi­ciency and effec­tive­ness of Van­cou­ver police offi­cers and civil­ians,” Van­cou­ver police Chief Jim Chu told a ribbon-cutting cer­e­mony. “It is very reas­sur­ing to see that all three lev­els of gov­ern­ment rec­og­nize that pub­lic safety is a priority.”

The build­ing adds an addi­tional 65,000 square feet to the force’s facil­i­ties for pro­cess­ing and stor­ing evi­dence, includ­ing rows of shelv­ing marked “riot.”

Evi­dence for seri­ous crimes such as homi­cides and sex­ual assaults, is kept for 99 years, said Wight­man. The old­est piece dates back to a mur­der in 1926.

Other evi­dence, for rel­a­tively minor crimes that have been com­pleted and ille­gal weapons, are destroyed monthly. Firearms, included seized ammu­ni­tion, are dis­man­tled and melted down for rebar, he said.

The build­ing, sub­ject to strict secu­rity con­trols, was opened to dig­ni­taries and media for a tour on Tues­day. The walk through the facil­ity includ­ing a spa­cious area for offi­cers to tag and bag the evi­dence, stacks that hold pieces of evi­dence in brown envelopes, a refrig­er­ated cooler and –30 degree freezer to store DNA, an evi­dence dry­ing room, bar­rels full of seized ille­gal weapons and a bright, spa­cious garage to process vehi­cles as evi­dence. Its bays were big enough to fit a bus.

Const. Stephen Haras, wear­ing a haz­mat bunny suit, demon­strated how he lifted prints off the win­dow of a con­fis­cated Honda Civic in a bright room of the garage.

“The facil­i­ties are a quan­tum leap” over what the offi­cers had to work in before the new build­ing was opened, said Wightman.

The facil­ity includes an impres­sive three-storey con­veyor belt to store 465 stolen bicy­cles that can be accessed within min­utes. The VPD called it the largest rotat­ing bike rack in Canada, which eas­ily accom­mo­dated the seizure this month of 62 stolen bicy­cles taken from a sus­pected bike “chop shop” in a Down­town East­side hotel.

The force’s offices at Cam­bie Street and 2nd Avenue will con­tin­ued to be used by the patrol and traf­fic divisions,

Some of the 465 stolen bikes on a state-of-the-art con­veyor belt at the new Van­cou­ver Police Prop­erty Office and Foren­sic Stor­age Facil­ity on Tues­day, Jan. 24. The newly-opened $45 mil­lion facil­ity was a col­lab­o­ra­tive effort between the city, provin­cial, and fed­eral gov­ern­ments. Pho­to­graph by: Jenelle Schnei­der, PNG

…The newly-opened … facil­ity was a col­lab­o­ra­tive effort between the city, provin­cial, and fed­eral gov­ern­ments. (photo by Jenelle Schneider/PNG)(PNG story by Kim Pemberton)(PRV reporter Sue Lazaruk/TRAX: 00058804A) [PNG Mer­lin Archive] Pho­to­graph by: Jenelle Schnei­der, PNG

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