Vancouver mayor receives police protection due to online threats

For the past several months, Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim says he has been under continuous police protection.

Source: Facebook

For the past several months, Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim says he has been under continuous police protection.

The heightened security measures mean Sim is regularly driven to and from work by plainclothes officers wearing earpieces. 

Guards accompany the mayor to regularly scheduled meetings, official engagements and political events. On at least one occasion, he has even conducted a brief council meeting remotely from the vehicle.

The level of security is unprecedented for a Vancouver mayor. The circumstances behind the additional security are numerous.

“Bomb threats, protesters coming up to my house and intimidating my family, my garage got tagged,” Sims said in a recent interview with Business in Vancouver.

Sims was likely referring to an incident that occurred last October when his garage was vandalized. Amongst the messages graffitied on his garage door were: “Ken Sim hates poor people,” “We hate Sim city” and “Free Palestine.”

Others were written in Chinese characters, including one that roughly translated to “(expletive) your ancestors for 18 generations,” according to a statement from the mayor’s office following the incident.

Sims also mentioned an incident from last October when a van was set on fire outside city hall.

Police Chief Adam Palmer tallied the cost of Sim's police detail since November at $226,000, as announced at a police board meeting on Thursday.

Palmer, who is set to retire shortly after forty years of policing work, called the incidents and the need to protect the mayor “a sad commentary on society.”

Palmer additionally confirmed the unprecedented nature of the extra security. He noted the Vancouver Police Department has provided additional security details for past mayors, but only for specific occasions and for “one-off” situations.