Vancouver police use drone to locate man suspected of deadly stranger attacks

Number of VPD drones in service has jumped from three to more than a dozen over the past three years

Published Sep 04, 2024  •  2 minute read

Police tape off False Creek Habitat Island in Vancouver, BC, September 4, 2024 . Photo by Arlen Redekop /PNG

The Vancouver Police Department used a drone on Wednesday morning to locate a suspect in two vicious attacks that left one man dead and another with a severed hand.

VPD Chief Adam Palmer said the drone — a remotely piloted aircraft system — was dispatched as the emergency unfolded and was able to identify the 34-year-old suspect on Habitat Island in False Creek near Olympic Village.

The incident began at 7:40 a.m. when a man was found near the Holy Rosary Cathedral on Dunsmuir Street with a severed hand. Ten minutes later a man was found dead outside the Queen Elizabeth Theatre. Both men had been attacked.

Soon afterwards a person walking their dog near Olympic Village called police to say they had been threatened by another man.

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Palmer did not reveal whether the drone was dispatched during the initial manhunt, or after police received the complaint from Olympic Village — across the Cambie Street bridge from downtown, where the two attacks occurred.

The VPD introduced drones to its arsenal of policing tools in 2019.

At that time, VPD superintendent Steve Eely said drones would “greatly enhance our ability to keep the city safe.”

He said police drone policy had been developed in consultation with the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner and the B.C. Civil Liberties Association.

“The new equipment will have many operational purposes, including investigation of motor vehicle collisions, crime scene analysis and reconstruction, search and rescue, and analysis of a disaster zone after a disaster or major event. The VPD will not use the drones for surveillance,” Eely said.

The crime scene at Holy Rosary Cathedral in downtown Vancouver on Wednesday Photo by Arlen Redekop /PNG

VPD spokesperson Const. Tania Visintin said the force began with three training drones and three drones for policing work.

That has now grown to more than a dozen drones, operated by police officers based in the department’s Cambie Street headquarters.

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Visintin said the drones are of various makes, sizes and capabilities.

“We continue to use them to assist with calls in patrol, calls our Emergency Response Unit officers attend and at motor vehicle collision investigations,” Visintin said last month.

“At times we do use them in arrests for officer and public safety. We recently used it to assist in locating a lost kayaker. We were able to get the drone up to determine the exact location the person was.”

According to the VPD’s regulations and procedures manual, drones can be used “to gather digital imagery in an effort to support public safety, enhance investigative techniques, expand operational awareness and aid in critical incident resolution.”

Critical incident and life preservation flights include but are not Limited to barricaded suspects, hostage situations, active deadly threat scenarios, high risk search warrants, and suicidal persons.

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The crime scene outside the Queen Elizabeth Theatre Photo by Arlen Redekop /PNG

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