Posting early as I may not have time before the meeting. Will pick up posting when the meeting starts tonight at 5:00 pm, if it’s actually streaming or otherwise public this month.

Things I usually look for in an accessible public meeting: being able to show up at any time during the meeting; not having to surrender ID to attend the meeting; and not having to go to police headquarters.

Meetings are held at 5:00 p.m. and are livestreamed and recorded on the Police Board YouTube channel unless otherwise noted. Members of the public who wish to attend in person must arrive at VicPD Headquarters (850 Caledonia Avenue) no later than 4:30 p.m. so staff can sign attendees in and escort them to the meeting room. All visitors to VicPD are required to provide photo identification in exchange for a visitor tag while in the building.

Meetings are held at 5:00pm and are livestreamed/recorded on the Police Board YouTube channel. Members of the public who may wish to attend in-person must arrive at VicPD HQ by no later than 4:50pm so that staff can sign attendees in and bring them to the meeting room. All guests of VicPD are required to provide ID in exchange for an “escorted” tag while in the building.

The board has now formalized that you have to show up before 4:30 pm to attend their 5:00 pm meetings. A half hour of time theft does not an accessible meeting make. The old info saying you can show up at 4:50 pm is still up elsewhere on VicPD’s website.

Agenda also features the return of “commendations,” a compilation of people saying nice things about VicPD. Featuring quotes like “the streets seemed cleaner” following more foot patrols; “five per cent of drivers are smoking pot”; and “Pedestrians also are appalling.” Cool.

Excerpts: The province supports municipalities in determining their police model, including amalgamated or regional models. On November 10, 2025, I met with the Mayors of Victoria, Esquimalt, Saanich, and Oak BBay to discuss this matter. The mayors I met with have been asked to engage with interested parties in their communities to ascertain the level of interest in establishing a process to consider the future of policing in the region of South Vancouver Island and communicate those results back to the province. I also encourage you to ensure both the City of Victoria and the Township of Esquimalt are fully aware of the board’s support for a regionalized model.

There’s a letter from Minister Krieger saying the Victoria, Esquimalt, Saanich and Oak Bay mayors were asked to see if there’s interest in looking at “the future of policing” (regional policing). Krieger also asks the board to ensure Victoria and Esquimalt know the board supports regional policing.

4. RISE & REPORT (when applicable) a. THAT the Board approve a $261,230 increase to its 2026 budget to cover one-time hiring costs for six new positions. These positions – two Strike Force Officers, two Community Resource Officers, one Community Programs Manager (civilian), and one Cybersecurity Analyst (civilian) – _were included in the final Provisional Budget submitted on February 26, 2026. This approval is based on the 2025 Budget appeal decision under Section 27 of the Police Act, as communicated by Glen Lewis, Assistant Deputy Minister and Director of Policing and Law Enforcement Services, on March 2, 2026.

Also on the agenda: approving a $261,230 budget increase to cover costs for the province overturning Esquimalt’s 2025 decision to reject hiring four new officers and two staff.

VICTORIA & ESQUIMALT POLICE BOARD Service or Policy Complaint Meeting Agenda April 21, 2026 – Immediately following the public board meeting Boardroom & Zoom 1. AGENDA Pg. 1 a. Adoption of the Service or Policy Complaint Agenda of April 21, 2026 2. COMPLAINT Pg. 2 a. Complaint 24-25449

Service or Policy Complaints Foundation Statement The Victoria Police Department (VicPD) admitted several points of failure and contributions of its officers to the collapse of a major drug prosecution due to the involvement of an officer under investigation for misconduct by the RCMP Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU), resulting in the harm to significant resources and dedicated work of officers of VicPD. VicPD also admitted that decisions should have been made differently and changes are needed in the way VicPD does its work. Complaints (1) There is a failure in general direction and management or operation of VicPD, a municipal police department, as detailed in part in the decision of R. v. Van Buskirk, 2023 BCSC 1873, finding that VicPD obscured facts regarding records, reports and disclosures about the involvement in a criminal investigation of an officer under investigation by the ACU. (2) VicPD’s standing orders or policies and/or its internal procedures are inadequate or inappropriate to prevent failure to provide accurate facts and prevent obscuration of the existence of essential facts with respect to records, reports and disclosures in criminal investigations including information provided to the Crown and to judicial officers concerning ITOs (Informations to Obtain), TWs (Tracking Warrants) and TDRs (Transmission Data Recorder warrants). (3) VicPD’s standing orders or policies and/or its internal procedures are inadequate or inappropriate with respect to (a) decisions to allow the involvement in a criminal investigation of an officer under investigation for serious breaches and corruption and (b) the safeguards put in place to ensure that such involvement does not compromise criminal investigations. (4) VicPD’s training programs are inadequate or inappropriate with respect to the training given to officers on recording and reporting on

criminal investigations including information provided to the Crown and to judicial officers concerning ITOs, TWs and TDRs. (5)There is a failure in the general direction and management or operation of VicPD, a municipal police department, b yVicPD's nonregulation or inadequate regulation of employees' and officers' personal and business relations with officer(s) under investigation for serious breaches and corruption. (6) VicPD's standing orders or policies and/or its internal procedures are inadequate or inappropriate with respect to VicPD's non-regulation or inadequate regulation of employees' and officers' personal and business relations with officer(s) under investigation for serious breaches and corruption. Respectfully submitted February 15, 2024

Schachter’s complaint is on the “Service or Policy Complaint Meeting Agenda,” which they say they’re going to discuss after the board meeting ends. I asked if that meeting is public (it’s supposed to be, if “permissible”) and if it would stream, but I haven’t heard back. www.vicpd.ca/Police%20Boa...

VICTORIA & ESQUIMALT POLICE BOARD Public Meeting Agenda April 21, 2026 at 5:00pm Boardroom & Zoom 1. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT a. Territorial Acknowledgement 2. STANDING ITEMS a. Declarations of Conflict of Interest Pg. 1 b. Adoption of the Public Agenda of April 21, 2026 Pg. 2 c. Adoption of the Public Minutes of February 24, 2026 d. Board Chair Update e. Committees Update f. Board Member Engagement Update g. Chief Constable Update h. Deputy Chief Constables Update 3. NEW BUSINESS a. CSWB Liaison b. *NEW Meeting* Service or Policy Pg. 5 c. Q1 VicPD Compliments Report 4. RISE & REPORT (when applicable) a. THAT the Board approve a $261,230 increase to its 2026 budget to cover one-time hiring costs for six new positions. These positions – two Strike Force Officers, two Community Resource Officers, one Community Programs Manager (civilian), and one Cybersecurity Analyst (civilian) – were included in the final Provisional Budget submitted on February 26, 2026. This approval is based on the 2025 Budget appeal decision under Section 27 of the Police Act, as communicated by Glen Lewis, Assistant Deputy Minister and Director of Policing and Law Enforcement Services, on March 2, 2026. 5. CORRESPONDENCE Pg. 11 a. 260227 - Letter to 684513 - Hayes from Minister Krieger

There’s a #yyj police board meeting tonight at 5:00 pm. Former board member Paul Schachter’s complaint re: VicPD’s “Project Juliet” and more is sort of on the agenda. Agenda: www.vicpd.ca/Police%20Boa... Stream: www.youtube.com/channel/UCKK... #vicpdboard 🧵

"Remember when council voted to hire 24 officers instead of 26? What if we did 26." Motion failed, with only Alto and Gardiner backing. I saw Manak isn't going to run for mayor. Good, but Alto has staked out the pro-police line anyway. There's room for a progressive candidate, hopefully!

"After CBC News filed an access to information request for emails regarding facial recognition with body-worn cameras, EPS inadvertently released on Feb. 2 an unredacted version of the records to CBC News. CBC News declined a request by EPS to immediately delete the records."

VicPD spent $24,000 so officers can ask an AI how to do their job — Needs More Spikes VicPD documents show the department spent $24,000 to make their own equivalent of ChatGPT, which officers can use to input sensitive data and ask questions about policing and the law.

As part of its budget, VicPD casually mentioned they’d created their own AI system. Via FOI, we now know they’ve told officers they can use it to write documents, conduct research, and ask questions about VicPD policies and potentially the Criminal Code. needsmorespikes.com/blog/vicpd-ai #yyj 🧵

Why do Canadians have to fundraise for basic things like healthcare, education, transit, and culture, when policing and the military always see increased funding?

VicPD’s use of technology should be severely restricted. Instead, it’s expanding unchecked. VicPD regularly hurts people, and there’s no reason to expect its use of AI will be any different, from potential privacy violations to false legal interpretations that could have devastating consequences.

VicPD has a poor track record with protecting personal info (ask me how I know!). They once accidentally gave someone outside VicPD access to the entire PRIME database. And they don’t audit PRIME access, despite misuse across B.C. We shouldn’t trust they’re being careful using personal info with AI.

4.2.1 Employees are not permitted to enter unapproved data types into public AI systems, and the use of sensitive data is strictly prohibited. 4.2.2 Any exception to the use of sensitive data in public AI systems must be formally approved by the Information Risk Management Division before any action can occur.

It’s also notable that VicPD says that its officers can use “sensitive data” with a public AI system like ChatGPT, as long as they get approval first.

You can use the tool any way you would use a commercial AI tool, such as ChatGPT or CoPilot. You can ask it questions, assist with writing documents, analyse data, perform research, grammar and writing assistance, etc. You can also query internal data sources, such as VicPD policies and procedures. Future plans include, adding Canadian Criminal Code, Local bylaws and case law data sources.

Multiple LLM Available for end users Gemma3 Qwen3-coder Qwen3-vl llma4 VicPD Custom LLM (policies, case files, image / video processing)

4.11 Knowledge and specific details about how the model has been trained and how it works must be kept strictly confidential, with access to such information being granted on a need-to-know basis.

VicPD says how it trained its AI system and how it works is a secret. We know it includes VicPD policy documents, such as how to respond to intimate partner violence. VicPD also implies it may include police case files, images and video, or at least that officers can use those files with the system.

There are huge risks with police using AI. Officers might act on false interpretations of the law, or answers based on racist policing data. But there was no council vote on any of this. While public programs are being cut, VicPD spent $24,000 so they could ask software to do their work for them.

VicPD spent $24,000 so officers can ask an AI how to do their job — Needs More Spikes VicPD documents show the department spent $24,000 to make their own equivalent of ChatGPT, which officers can use to input sensitive data and ask questions about policing and the law.

As part of its budget, VicPD casually mentioned they’d created their own AI system. Via FOI, we now know they’ve told officers they can use it to write documents, conduct research, and ask questions about VicPD policies and potentially the Criminal Code. needsmorespikes.com/blog/vicpd-ai #yyj 🧵

"We’re paying for the propaganda that’s defunding our essential city services. The least we can do is notice."

Excerpt of Bill 16 that amends the Judicial Review Procedure Act to exempt cabinet documents from review.

Remember how the BC Gov fired the Victoria School Board for refusing to put cops in schools and then they sued and won the right to cabinet documents so the court could decide whether that decision was reasonable or not?

The BC Government remembers.

Via some docs linked here: www.connectnorthsaanich.ca/wainpark $120,000 to make the courts in 2017; $50,330 for consulting on replacement; $40,000 for park development. I only did a skim, so likely lots of nuance and expenses missed there (e.g., legal fees from lawsuit!), but lots of docs linked.

Weathervane YouTube video by 2outhPaw MMA

Happy to report this is still online. www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_WG...

They could never run the Adrian Dix weather vane ad today, because wind is clean energy.

10 people died at St Paul's in under three years, but they've "got to see whether overdose prevention services will be needed at the new St. Paul’s." bsky.app/profile/kwar...

“I do think that they’re using human trafficking language as a guise for what this operation is—which is anti-sex work. … This news release has really made it clear that the intent of this counter human trafficking unit is to target sex workers.” Angela Wu, Executive Director, SWAN.

There was supposed to be a #yyj police board meeting today, but it's cancelled. For the future, their new website says the public has to get to VicPD HQ before 4:30 pm (used to be 4:50 pm) to attend a 5:00 pm meeting. An exciting new barrier to public access for the worst public meeting venue going!

Good FOI reporting on some terrible things.

Since 2013, there have been 83 IIO investigations into VicPD for cases of "serious harm" or where someone died. Not all of those cases involve police directly harming or killing someone, but it's telling that not one investigation has led to charges. Allowing police violence to continue is a choice.

The BC Prosecution Service recently decided not to charge a VicPD officer who shot and killed someone in crisis without warning. When you keep sending people with guns to mental health crises, they're going to keep killing people in crisis. iiobc.ca/app/uploads/...

International Day Against Police Brutality: A Reflection “I don’t think we can rely on governments, regardless of who is in power, to do the work that only mass movements can do.” – Angela Davis, Freedom is a constant struggle Today, March 15, 2026, mark…

Post from @defundvicpd.bsky.social on the International Day Against Police Brutality. "The police do not prevent or resolve violence, but rather they cause it. Many of VicPD’s responses to incidents include violence or the threat of violence." defundvicpd.org/2026/03/15/i... #yyj