Search for Olympic flag leads to backlash
A Downtown Eastside group calls a search of its offices an attempt to intimidate, others say it was just standard procedure.
The investigation into the theft of the Olympic flag led police to the offices of the Downtown Eastside Residents Association.
Officers showed up at the Association’s offices on East Hastings last night and searched a storage area.
David Eby with the Pivot Legal Society says the search took about an hour, during which time pictures were taken but police didn’t leave with anything else.
Vancouver Police are defending the raid.
Constable Tim Fanning says officers were acting on a confidential tip and only received a search warrant for the storage lockers late in the day but he says avoiding a daytime protest was a plus.
He insists police are not manipulating things to attack DERA or the Anti Poverty Committee.
“If we had information that the flag was at a home in shaughnessy, we would have gone there too - we are conducting a criminal investigation and we are going to do our most to find that stolen property’
Fanning says the theft has upset a lot of people, and he’s defending sending in 2 detectives and 6 officers to execute the search, because of the violent protestors police have had to deal with in the past.
He says the building manager was very cooperative and tenants storage lockers were not searched.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130)
