FIFA World Cup banners hang on light standards on the Cambie Bridge, in Vancouver, on Monday.DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press
Vancouver will see its largest police deployment to date, along with extensive road closings and rerouted access around BC Place during this summer’s FIFA World Cup, officials said at an update Wednesday.
With 35 days until kickoff, representatives from Vancouver’s host city committee, BC Place stadium, the Vancouver Police Department (VPD) and TransLink convened a news conference to provide information on navigating the event.
The tournament will take place June 11 to July 19 in 16 North American cities, including Vancouver and Toronto. The first match in Vancouver is on June 13. The city expects to draw 350,000 people to its downtown core across seven match days.
Don Chapman, VPD deputy chief and co-chair of Vancouver’s integrated safety and security unit, which was struck for the tournament, described what will be the city’s largest police deployment to date. While he could not give exact staffing numbers, he said it will involve officers from the VPD, RCMP, Metro Vancouver Transit Police, the Delta Police Department, and the Calgary and Edmonton police services.
Deputy Chief Chapman said Vancouver’s operations are “on pace” with those in Toronto, where the first match will be held on June 12. The city’s police on Tuesday unveiled a multimillion-dollar central command centre, along with drones with a command post vehicle.
“Our department operations centre will be up and running, as will the city’s operation centre,” he said. “And yes, we will, when and if necessary, have our drones. We have a very robust drone program. So that will be up, monitoring crowd movements and whatnot.”
From neighbourhood bars to five-star hotels: Where to watch the World Cup in Toronto and Vancouver
On Monday, the information and privacy commissioners of B.C. and Ontario issued a joint statement calling on municipal governments, police services and other agencies to uphold people’s privacy and information rights during their World Cup operations.
This includes ensuring all practices and technologies implemented are legal, authorized, necessary and proportionate to the objective; that their use is transparent; and that game-related surveillance installations are time-limited.
Deputy Chief Chapman said his unit has been working with B.C.’s privacy commissioner on the use of additional CCTV cameras that will be going up around BC Place.
Roads around BC Place stadium will see temporary closings and be designated for local traffic only, said Taunya Geelhoed, chief operations officer for the host city committee. Fans will be directed to enter the area through the Main Street-Science World SkyTrain Station, where the science centre’s iconic geodesic dome will be transformed into the red, green and blue official match ball of the World Cup.
TransLink, the region’s transportation authority, will add about 600 bus trips a day, including a dedicated shuttle connecting SkyTrain lines with the fan festival at the PNE grounds about six kilometres from the stadium.
The total bill to B.C. taxpayers remains unknown. The provincial government’s last update, from June, estimated the cost to be between $532-million and $624-million, which would be offset by $448-million to $478-million in revenue and recoveries. The federal government last week announced $145-million for security during the World Cup, with $100-million of that going to B.C.
Jessie Adcock, Vancouver’s host committee lead, said that a budget update will be provided in the “next couple of weeks.”