The rcmpigs are going to start cracking down on people going to Vancouver's Wreck Beach, which is a nudes-allowed area. Are you going to tell me that they fucking have nothing better to do? When their own officers have been busted making and distributing child porn, drug use and the gang related crime associated with it is rampant, not to mention the usual shit that is "normal" in this society, (ie-rape, abduction, drunk driving, and so much more). Of course, this goes along with their usual jaywalking sweeps,and other things that make everyone feel so much safer. I just can't believe how stupid shit gets sometimes.
RCMP setting up police tent on popular Vancouver nude beach to crack down on overdoses and public sex acts
Lyle Stafford for the National PostLocated adjacent to the University of British Columbia campus on an isolated sliver of Pacific Spirit Regional Park, Wreck Beach has been Vancouver’s go-to nude beach since at least the 1970s.
Canada’s most famous nude beach is getting its own police detachment of sorts — a pair of RCMP officers posted in a tent.
Nudity, open containers, acoustic guitars and even drug use are still legal on Wreck Beach, but Mounties say they will crack down on overdoses and open-air sexual activity.
“There’s about 465 stairs to that beach, and that’s really the only point of access unless you come in from the water,” said Sgt. Drew Grainger with the RCMP’s University of British Columbia detachment.
Last summer, he said, the police needed to call in a coast guard hovercraft as often as three times a week to haul away exhibitionists or belligerent drunks.
It’s not going to be the arms crossed, sunglasses on
“It’s an enormous burden on us and other emergency services to deal with that,” he said, adding that placing a seven-day-a-week RCMP tent on the beach would simply be to let people know what is “acceptable.”
“It’s not going to be the arms crossed, sunglasses on, overlooking the crowd,” he said.
Nevertheless, while Wreck Beach veterans do not object to the occasional RCMP patrol, they insist that the constant presence of uniformed Mounties will detract from the location’s free-and-easy vibe.
“A continued presence gives a non-verbal message that our beach is unsafe, and our beach is more safe than any other beach in this whole Lower Mainland,” said Judy Williams, longtime chair of the Wreck Beach Preservation Society.
Lyle Stafford for the National PostNudity, open containers, acoustic guitars and even drug use are still legal on Wreck Beach, but Mounties say they will crack down on overdoses and open-air sexual activity.
Ms. Williams suspects the increased police focus can be blamed on the high-profile case of Alana Thomson, an “obnoxious” 31-year-old who was issued with criminal charges last year after RCMP officers caught her selling alcoholic freezies along Wreck Beach.
While other vendors hawk their Wreck Beach wares with a wink and a nod, Ms. Williams said Ms. Thomson regularly ruptured the silence of the retreat by screaming out her products like a carnival barker.
The unsubtle approach made Ms. Thomson easy to catch, and the wildly variable alcohol percentages of her homemade freezies soon had RCMP worried about beachgoers being sickened by similar homemade concoctions.
Said Sgt. Grainger soon after Ms. Thomson’s arrest, “We don’t know what’s in that liquor.”
Located adjacent to the University of British Columbia campus on an isolated sliver of Pacific Spirit Regional Park, Wreck Beach has been Vancouver’s go-to nude beach since at least the 1970s.
It is the beach’s reputation for drug use, however, that has led to clashes with the Mounties.
In the 1980s and early 1990s, RCMP would mount regular raids on the beach to seize even small amounts of beer or marijuana. Reportedly, undercover officers would even go nude to mount stings against Wreck Beach drug vendors.
“We won’t tolerate either drugs or booze on the beaches,” Sgt. Brian Muir told The Province after a 27-officer Wreck Beach raid in 1989.
Lyle Stafford for the National PostLast summer, police needed to call in a coast guard hovercraft as often as three times a week to haul away exhibitionists or belligerent drunks.
These days, Ms. Williams says her group has a “good relationship” with the police. A list of “etiquette” suggestions published by the Society even encourages beach users to call the RCMP to report dogs and “overt sexual activity.”
When Ms. Williams was told of the new plan for a semi-permanent RCMP tent at the beach, she even received Sgt. Grainger’s personal assurance that any prudish RCMP officers who “turned their noses up at” nudists would be immediately removed from Wreck Beach duty.
While the Wreck Beach Preservation Society remains opposed to a semi-permanent RCMP presence at the beach, Ms. Williams said she hoped it would at least help their years-long battle against the scourge of music-blaring party boats and speeding jet skis buzzing their quiet enclave.
“If they can do anything to start reducing the threat to public safety from these jet skis being recklessly operated, we would welcome that,” she said.
National Post, with files from Postmedia News
