Vancouver police will begin tracking down promoters of unsanctioned events such as raves and festivals to recover policing costs.

The announcement Thursday follows the death last weekend of a 23-year-old man, who fell off a cliff in Stanley Park during what police called an unlicensed rave. It also comes a day before a bike rave is planned for later tonight.

Vancouver Police spokesman Sgt. Randy Fincham says if authorities know about an event in advance, they can staff it with the appropriate number of officers. But if a 911 call comes in about a rave at 2 a.m., for example, the department will over-deploy resources and send dozens of officers because they don’t know the extent of any potential risk.

That can add up to tens of thousands of dollars in policing costs for one event, he noted. Police recently faced this problem during the 4/20 marijuana demonstration that drew an estimated 20,000 people into the city’s downtown core last month, as well as the May Day protest on Commercial Drive. Although billed as a “protest”, the 4/20 event included dozens of vendors setting up kiosks near the Vancouver Art Gallery.

Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson has said the city can’t force the 4/20 organizers to get permits because they are hosting a demonstration and not an event or festival. However, the city and police are trying to address the situation ahead of next year’s “highly disruptive” rally.

“We have reached out to the organizers and we have told them that (in future) they would have to follow the same rules as other similar-sized events in the city, which would mean an event permit, which would mean costs (for) VPD, sanitation, traffic,” said city spokesman Tobin Postma.

During the recent May Day festival, which attracted more than 5,000 revellers, police had to call in extra resources after a peaceful protest in the Commercial Drive area turned violent. During the melee, one person was stabbed and three people were arrested.

Policing costs for this year’s 4/20 event have been tallied at around $50,000, while the May Day event on Commercial ran up a $90,000 bill, said Fincham. Police suspect the bike rave tonight could cost around $10,000.

“It’s expensive, and if we don’t know how many people are going, we can’t staff in advance,” said Fincham. “And it leaves the taxpayer on the hook for something that we could have staffed appropriately.”

Although the VPD has never tried to recoup losses from promoters before, he said police will begin to track them down and they will be billed for costs. Organizers of the 4/20 and May Day events won’t likely be on the hook for policing costs, as the VPD won’t be retroactively seeking damages.

“We are not actively looking at going after past event promoters, although that’s not completely out of the question. Going forward, we feel that it is appropriate to advise a would-be promoter that they may be on the hook if a large-scale police presence is required to manage their crowd,” said Fincham.

City staff would be involved in billing the promoters of unsanctioned events.

“In this case, the VPD would send us the billing details for the event organizer and then we would send out an invoice to them. If the organizer fails to pay, then it would go to the collections team in our legal department,” said Postma.

Warm summer weather means police see a number of large, unsanctioned gatherings in the city and in parks, such as bike raves and outdoor music events, which in recent years have grown significantly, swelling from small demonstrations to rowdy crowds of thousands.

“Social media is a killer. You can invite so many people to these events anonymously,” he said.

For instance, the VPD became aware of tonight’s bike rave through social media, and they are concerned that residents will start calling 911 in the early hours with noise complaints.

“We support free speech, but people need to realize that it impacts the community, and takes police resources away from other calls,” said Fincham.

The bike rave organizer has been contacted by police over concerns that he was advertising the event, and he was warned that he could be billed for policing costs. Fincham said the online advertisements have since been taken down.

Meanwhile, an investigation into the death of the young man who fell off the cliff in Stanley Park continues. Vancouver police were called to the seawall near Siwash Rock at about 4:20 a.m. Sunday. They found a 23-year-old man dead at the scene. It is believed he was at a rave in a clearing above the spot where his body was found.

The clearing where the party took place is at the end of Merilees Trail and about a kilometre from the Prospect Point parking lot. The clearing is surrounded by towering trees and is well away from roads.

Fincham said Thursday that the death is considered accidental, however the coroner is still investigating.

ticrawford@vancouversun.com

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