Police office vandalized
By Naoibh O'Connor-Staff writer
Vancouver Courier
Wednesday, April 21, 2004
Staff at the Grandview-Woodland Community Policing Centre are calling on residents to keep an eye out for vandals after someone tried to torch the office over the weekend.
It's the latest in a string of vandal attacks on the small building in Grandview Park, just off Commercial Drive.
Eileen Mosca, president of the non-profit society that runs the office, said the attempt to burn down the structure appears to have been thwarted by a Good Samaritan who doused the flames. That was evident by a puddle of water beneath the scorched planter box and window pane.
"This time, they didn't use accelerant. Our fear is next time they might," said Mosca, who is frustrated by what she sees as a concerted effort to intimidate volunteers and staff.
Several windows have been broken in recent months-in one case the culprits tried to shatter them by smashing beer bottles filled with blue paint against the glass. Dried blue paint is still splattered on the sidewalk. The parks board, which rents the building to the society, was forced to replace the windows with Plexiglas to deal with the problem.
Nasty spray-painted messages have also been left on the door and exterior walls, including the words, "Die Scum" and "Kill cops."
Mosca tried to appeal to the vandals' better instincts by attaching a note to the door that points out the more money spent fixing the damage, the less is available for art supplies and equipment for the park's summer playground program. "Please stop," the notice pleads.
Mosca said the problem has escalated in tandem with efforts to clean up the Drive.
Police recently launched beat team patrols, in which two officers spend their shifts walking the neighbourhood, rather than driving around in cars.
A school liaison officer was reappointed to neighbouring Britannia Secondary, and a sweep by the drug squad landed some drug dealers in jail.
Mosca said extra policing has changed the climate of the Drive. "It's back to the way it was 15 years ago, really safe and pleasant. But [troublemakers] clearly want the police out and I guess since they can't get them out, they're targeting us."
That won't work, she insisted. "We won't be driven away. If they burn us down we'll set up a tent and carry on."
Mosca is spreading the word about the graffiti and other incidents in the hopes residents will start calling authorities if they see unusual activity around the centre. Few bother to call 911 even if they hear glass breaking, and no one contacted police about the attempted arson, she noted, adding, "It's everybody's tax dollars that are paying to repair the damage."
Police spokeswoman Sarah Bloor said officers have no plans to retreat from the park and give it up to drug dealers or other criminals. "We are not going to go away. We are concerned for the volunteers and we'll make every effort to ensure they're safe but this is a community which wants to have free access to the park and throughout their neighbourhood," she said, asking anyone with information about crimes to call Crimestoppers. "We'll try and track down those that are responsible and when we do, we'll make sure these people go forward to the courts."