Police investigate sex assaults at shelter

Vancouver police are investigating after six recent reports of sexual assaults at an overnight shelter in the city's Downtown Eastside.

Police say there have been six reported sexual assaults at the First United Church shelter since Oct. 30. Three of those reports have resulted in charges, one is still under investigation and two investigations could not proceed because there was not enough evidence.

Rev. Ric Matthews acknowledges there have been troubling incidents at the shelter.

"You know, we have incidents reports for every event and so we actually have been going through them to just try and identify how many actual incidents there are," he said.

"We asked the police and they say they have five on record over the past year over the 125,000 bed nights that we have in the year."

Matthews said the shelter has hired more female staff and increased the women-only areas in an effort to address the problem.

In addition, police officers toured the shelter and suggested staff members carry mobile phones and wear visible vests that identify them as staff. Foot patrols of the shelters have also been increased, police said.

Police said the shelters pose a unique challenge when so many people are housed together unexpectedly in extreme weather, but said every report sparks a thorough and immediate investigation.

The police department's Sex Crimes Unit is investigating. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Vancouver Police Department tip line at 604-215-4777 or investigators at 604-717-2634.