No crackdown on homeless for 2010 Games: police

Police in Vancouver are not planning to crack down on homeless people during the Olympic Games, but they will be enforcing existing laws and clearing the homeless from security zones, residents of the Downtown Eastside were told Thursday evening.

The head of the Integrated Security Unit, assistant RCMP commissioner Bud Mercer made the promise at a meeting held by Olympic security officials intended to calm the fears of those living on the Downtown Eastside.

Mercer told a group of about 200 people crowded into a small room at Vancouver's Strathcona Community Centre that as long as their behaviour stayed within the law, they would not be harassed.

Recently neighbourhood activists have claimed police are ticketing the homeless more frequently for minor infractions such as jaywalking and confiscating their possessions as part of a plan to clear them off the streets before the Games.

There are many myths surrounding Olympic security, according to Mercer, but police will not have any extra powers during the Games.

"The police have been given no more powers during 2010 than they have today. None are wanted," said Mercer.

"If it's lawful today, it'll be lawful during 2010," he said.

Secure areas will be cleared

Deputy Chief Steve Sweeney of the Vancouver Police Department said homeless people will be moved if they are too close to official Games venues and security zones

"The City of Vancouver and the Vancouver police will work with them to either help them to find shelter, or if they don't wish to be sheltered, to help them relocate somewhere else.

Those who refuse to move may be arrested, Sweeney said.

"I'm not going to lie to you and tell you there won't be an impact," he said.   There will also be protest areas, but protesters have nothing to worry about, unless they break the law, said Sweeney.

Closed circuit televisions will be installed around all Olympic venues and areas such as the downtown entertainment district on Granville Street, but there won't be any cameras in the Downtown Eastside, he said.

Local resident Garvin Snider said he was glad he got to question officials.

"This is how we alleviate fears, is to open up lines of communication and yeah, I'm glad I got the opportunity to hold these people's feet to the fire because a lot of us don't have a voice," he said .

But Snider said despite the police assurances, he is still skeptical how the city's homeless will be treated when the Olympics come to Vancouver.