Vancouver police publicize updated handcuff policy as part of complaint resolution

The Vancouver Police Department, as part of its resolution of a complaint filed by B.C.'s first Black Supreme Court judge, has issued a statement about its updated policy on the use of handcuffs.

The policy itself came into effect 18 months ago on an interim basis.

A VPD spokesperson said the statement was released Friday after the force reached an "informal resolution agreement" of a Police Act complaint filed by retired Justice Selwyn Romilly after he was wrongfully detained and handcuffed by officers in Stanley Park in May of 2021.

"Vancouver police officers must consider a person’s age, ethnicity, and the seriousness of an alleged incident prior to applying handcuffs," the media release from the department says, summarizing the policy.

"Furthermore, before applying handcuffs, a police officer must have lawful authority that is objectively reasonable, is proportionate to the potential risk of harm the officer faces, and is necessary to fulfil a legitimate policing objective. A focal point of the policy is that Vancouver police officers must be able to articulate the specific circumstance necessitating the use of handcuffs to restrain a person."

The statement notes that an initial review of the policy was prompted by a highly-publicized and scrutinized incident in which an Indigenous man and his 12-year-old granddaughter were handcuffed outside of a downtown Vancouver bank in December of 2019. They were trying to open an account using their government-issued status cards.

A year and a half after that incident, which was ultimately found to have been discriminatory, Romilly was handcuffed and detained by officers looking for a suspect decades younger than the octogenarian judge. The VPD's statement acknowledges that Romilly was detained "despite having no involvement in the incident being investigated."

The statement from the VPD and the updated policy are both available online.