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“We’ve had a number of shootings in there, we’ve had stabbings … a number of sex assaults,” Chow said. “Even our own police officers, we’ve had seasoned sergeants come up to me and say that at night, they won’t have their officers go into the park without at least four officers.”

In recent weeks, there have been several incidents in which officers in the park had been “swarmed,” and in some cases had bottles thrown at them, Chow said.

Police issued a statement Thursday highlighting a spike in the number of weapon seizures in Oppenheimer and the surrounding area. Between June and August of this year, police seized 17 weapons, up from two weapons seized there during the same period last year.

So far this year, 49 per cent of all of the 453 guns seized in the city’s four districts were in the district that includes the DTES and Oppenheimer, Chow said, adding: “In my 30-plus years with the VPD, I have never seen such high numbers of weapons seized in one district alone.”

Photo by Jason Payne / PNG

In August, the park board’s general manager issued an evacuation order for the almost 200 tents in Oppenheimer. In the ensuing days, B.C. Housing successfully connected many park residents with social housing.

While many former campers moved into housing, almost 80 tents remained in the park in early September.

But, since that time, Chow said, the number of tents in Oppenheimer has been growing. He estimated Thursday there were about 120 tents there.