Vancouver police have dropped a fine against a homeless man who had been camping on a sidewalk in the Downtown Eastside.
James Oickle received a $250 ticket for camping on city property on April 22, which police said today, was issued by a newly graduated officer who hadn't been briefed on what the police department usually handles.
"We don't feel this was a policing issue," Const. Lindsey Houghton told ctvbc.ca. "If there was a public safety concern then we would step in, but in a case like this we'd usually defer it to the City of Vancouver."
Oickle was sleeping out of a red tent marked ‘housing is a right', which were handed out during the Olympics to serve as shelter for Vancouver's homeless.
He had been camping out on Cordova Street in between the provincial courthouse and the Main Street police detachment because he said he thought it would a safe place.
Houghton said police are taking steps to ensure all new officers will be refreshed on VPD policies.
