The furthest police will go to take the homeless into shelters during extreme weather is to use “minimal non-forceful touching,” Vancouver police Chief Jim Chu said yesterday.
The Assistance to Shelter Act will start being enforced later on this week, Chu said, and how officers handle it needs to be approved by the Vancouver Police Board at a meeting tomorrow.
(It’ll be the) “equivalent to the supporting hand one would use in helping an elderly person cross the street,” Chu said.
Police have always been legally able to force an underage person, those heavily intoxicated or suffering from mental illness off the streets. Chu said the new legislation expands the criteria to include any homeless person.
He added that police have traditionally provided blankets and directions to shelters when they encountered people on the streets during cold spells and that police will continue to do so.
Only when an officer believes that there is a risk of imminent serious injury or death will a homeless person be touched.
“If the person refuses that assistance we will withdraw the contact immediately,” Chu said.
“We will continue to explore other tactics to ensure the person survives the extreme weather safely.”
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