There has been a death on an infamous block of a Victoria street, just one day after first responders changed their response policy due to a violent incident in the same area.
Under the new policy, paramedics and firefighters won’t respond to calls in the 900 block of Pandora Avenue without a police escort.
The change, made at the request of the two agencies, came after a paramedic was attacked and injured while providing someone medical attention.
The following day, a 38-year-old woman died of an overdose.
Victoria police say the new policy was not a factor in the response.
“I can say our response time in that case was very quick, and we were actually ready to move into the block prior to the fire department being actually available in there,” Victoria police Deputy Chief of Operations Jamie McRae told Global News.
On Wednesday, police said they had seized a large cache of weapons in the 900 block, including a loaded handgun, knives, machetes and bear spray.
“There are those risks out there,” BC Emergency Health Services spokesperson Brian Twaites said.
“Knowing there are weapons in place, I think everybody is quite thankful … to know that Victoria police is like, ‘No, we are not going to let you go in there until we can guarantee your safety.’”
Esquimalt, which shares a police force with Victoria, is also raising concerns about the new policy.
Mayor Barbara Desjardins said if VicPD officers are tied up handling calls on Pandora, the department could be forced to pull officers from her community if there was an emergency.
“It’s a huge strain on the force,” she said, adding that a delay in response could “mean the difference between life and death.”
Desjardins said the province needs to step in with a plan to resolve the crisis on the street, and not try and solve it in a piecemeal fashion.
She said that may involve making tough choices like institutionalizing people with extreme mental health or drug challenges against their will.
“The ultimate response and the one we should have been working on for years is getting the appropriate housing and treatment and support facilities for people that have the challenges they have down on Pandora,” she said.
“Right now what’s happened is you have vulnerable people and you have a criminal element.”
Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth said the province remains focused on solutions for the area “in terms of ensuring the services that need to be there are there — and in terms of finding additional housing opportunities.”
But McRae acknowledged the new policy is not sustainable in the long term.
He said officials will need to come up with a plan to improve public safety in the neighbourhood, one that will take both time and the involvement of community partners and social services in the area.
“It’s a drain on our resources, it is challenging for us,” he said of the police escort policy.
“But it is also not providing the best service for the community members in that area who need immediate at times medical response, and often don’t need the services of the police department.”