Vancouver’s mayor and police chief trumpeted a plan Thursday to boost police funding with a specific focus on the Downtown Eastside. At a news conference Thursday at City Hall, Vancouver Police Chief Adam Palmer and Mayor Ken Sim announced what they called a “long-term initiative to dismantle organized crime.

The mayor and the police chief have announced a new task force they say will target organized crime and predatory criminals operating in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.

Vancouver's Downtown Eastside neighbourhood is in the grip of a "humanitarian crisis" of crime and violence that has reached a tipping point, the city's mayor said, as he unveiled a taskforce to tackle organized crime.