{"id":103667,"date":"2025-07-30T02:37:08","date_gmt":"2025-07-30T02:37:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/103667\/"},"modified":"2025-07-30T02:37:08","modified_gmt":"2025-07-30T02:37:08","slug":"victoria-police-criticizes-island-health-interaction-with-drug-trafficker-on-consumption-site-doorstep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/103667\/","title":{"rendered":"Victoria Police criticizes Island Health interaction with drug trafficker on consumption site doorstep"},"content":{"rendered":"

Out of a covert public safety blitz in downtown Victoria<\/a>, a bigger issue around the idea of responsibility around street crime and disorder in the capital city is emerging.<\/p>\n

\u201cA service provider is coming out, engaging with this drug trafficker while this drug trafficker is making transactions. It\u2019s unprofessional. I\u2019m extremely disappointed to see that,\u201d said Victoria Police Chief Del Manak on Tuesday. \u201cThat is absolutely unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n

As part of \u2018Project 3D\u2019, Victoria undercover officers observed a service provider talking with a man posted up in a lawn chair allegedly trafficking cocaine to a lineup of customers, on the front stoop of an Island Health consumption site on the 900-block of Pandora called The Harbour.<\/p>\n

That man was arrested, one of 16 arrests over a two-day undercover blitz Victoria Police conducted.<\/p>\n

Also arrested, Victoria Police says, is a repeat offender with two outstanding mainland warrants arrested in the 900-block of Pandora Avenue, and a man arrested for trafficking fentanyl one day, then cocaine the next.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a lot of people that are exploitating our most vulnerable people by distributing illicit and potentially toxic drugs on our streets,\u201d said Manak. \u201cThey\u2019re not welcome in our community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Watch the report below:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Disrupting this criminal activity, covertly, the chief says, will be a dedicated and ongoing initiative. And as they up their game, they\u2019re asking community partners and the public to step up as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do expect that if someone is set up out your front door, and you know they\u2019re carrying out drug trafficking sales, you have to say something,\u201d said Manak.<\/p>\n

As for the health authority, specifically, the capital city\u2019s police chief had tough words.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can tell you the health authority needs to be better. They need to do a better job,\u201d said Manak. <\/p>\n

\u201cI am aware the dealers are going to go where the people are, that\u2019s not rocket science, but we just can\u2019t make it so easy that they\u2019re set up directly outside the consumption site.\u201d<\/p>\n

Island Health didn\u2019t answer CHEK News\u2019 questions if they would be following up with staff or making policy changes. Instead, it sidestepped responsibility.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not within the mandate or purview of a health authority or its staff to respond to potential criminal activity occurring on a public street \u2013 that is within the purview of law enforcement,\u201d said Island Health in a statement.<\/p>\n

The chief says there\u2019s no room for apathy, given the crime and disorder issues the capital city is facing.<\/p>\n

He says service providers, even the public, have a part to play to step up, move people along, or call 911.<\/p>\n

\n

SEE ALSO: $10.3M for public safety in Victoria receives final approval with two opposed<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Out of a covert public safety blitz in downtown Victoria, a bigger issue around the idea of responsibility…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":103668,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2147,50,989],"class_list":{"0":"post-103667","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-canada","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-video"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114939864284390707","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103667","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103667"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103667\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}