Here it is, just over a year since the infamous June 15, 2011, Stanley Cup riot erupted in downtown Vancouver. Yet, the civic soul-searching continues.

Almost everyone – regional mayors, councillors, police and provincial politicians included – wants to know why it happened and how to prevent it from happening again.

The story is, by now, painfully familiar. The Vancouver Canucks had just lost the final Stanley Cup game to the Boston Bruins. It was a match witnessed by an estimated 150,000 downtown Vancouver fans who had journeyed there in hopes of having a victory celebration after watching the contest on a massive outdoor screen.

During the next few hours, thousands of fans – many fuelled by alcohol – looted and vandalized more than 100 downtown businesses and damaged, burned and otherwise destroyed more than 120 vehicles (including police cars). Many of these images were sent around the world.

The riot caused an estimated $5 million in damages and led to at least $2 million in police overtime costs. Many more millions continue to be spent on inquiries and in the courts. At last count, 301 charges had been laid against 114 individuals. And the process continues.

Despite all this, there remains a mystifying reluctance among civic and provincial authorities and elected officials to acknowledge the obvious: this very costly riot represents a second clear, textbook example of why Greater Vancouver needs a regional police force. The first was the mishandling of the Robert Pickton multiple murder investigation a number of years ago.

Currently, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police are contracted to cover the majority of Metro Vancouver’s 17 policing regions, while individual municipal forces have jurisdiction in Vancouver, Abbotsford, Delta, West Vancouver, New Westminster and Port Moody. As well, Translink operates its own Transit Police Services for regional public transit.

The post-riot report from the Vancouver Police Department (VPD) acknowledges the benefit of having a regional police force: “The 2011 Stanley Cup playoffs is an example of a regional event that would have benefited from a regional police service model. While there was excellent co-operation from police leaders in the region, they understandably were focused on their own municipalities. There was no one leader/agency that could make decisions for the region.”

Post-riot reports clearly indicate that the violence could have been controlled far more efficiently under a regional police system, and the mayhem may have been prevented from breaking out whatsoever.

The VPD report also points out other major flaws in the current policy system: “Common standards and procedures are lacking for consequence management for major incidents [that] may occur, such as planned celebrations, riots, natural disasters and terrorist attacks.”

As for those last two examples, note that there hasn’t been any nearby military presence here since Ottawa closed the Chilliwack Army Base in 1997. Regional policing assistance is the only immediate option.

Finally, any attempt at regional co-ordination by the current patchwork of policing in Greater Vancouver is further hampered by the fact that the various metro police forces are subject to different legislation and different governance structures.

The solution? It’s a no-brainer.

© 2012 Investment Executive. All rights reserved.