Vancouver police go undercover to crack down on bear spray sales, issue $20K in fines

Vancouver police issued $20,000 in fines to 10 businesses violating the city's recently introduced bear spray bylaws in an undercover operation last year.

In a news release Thursday, the department said that officers "disguised as shoppers" visited 28 businesses between Oct. 15 and Dec. 16 of 2023 to enforce a bylaw that was introduced last spring.

The bylaw bans the sale of bear spray to anyone under 19 and anyone who does not show ID, restricts where it can be displayed and requires retailers to keep detailed records regarding sales.

“This operation shows there is still more work needed to educate retailers and gain compliance with the new bylaw,” Const. Tania Visintin said in the statement, which adds that "all of the fines were issued to businesses that failed to record sales and keep the appropriate records."

While possessing bear spray is not illegal, even among people under 19, there has been an increase in its use as a weapon during the commission of crimes in the city, according to police.

"This is about public safety and protecting our youth, and it’s concerning that more than a third of the businesses we visited were breaking the rules," Visintin said in Thursday's update.

Statistics provided to city council before the bylaw was introduced detailed the number of annual offences reported over the past five years involving the use of bear spray, specifically in cases involving threats, assaults, and robberies.

In 2018, the total was 429 and in 2022 it was 721. The highest number of cases was recorded in 2020, with 730. Cases involving youth have seen annual increases since 2018 – from 52, to 70, to 80, to 100, to 115.