2024 marked a year of some big changes for the New Westminster Police Department and the police board.
In January, Chief Const. Dave Jansen announced he would be retiring as the city’s top cop in June, after serving in that role since 2019. Jansen, who joined the NWPD in 1990, said it had been an incredible privilege to work for the department.
“I can never say thank you enough to New Westminster,” said the New West resident. “All ever want to do was to be a cop, and I mean that sincerely. This city gave me that chance.”
At its June meeting, the police board named Deputy Chief Const. Paul Hyland as the department’s acting chief constable.
2024 also marked a year of change for the New Westminster police board. After decades of having the city’s mayor serve as its chair, that changed in 2024.
Amendments to the Police Act regarding police governance of police boards required municipal councils to determine who would be their representative on the police board and allowed police boards to elect their chair and vice-chair.
At city council’s June 24 meeting, Mayor Patrick Johnstone read out a decision from a closed council meeting stating Coun. Tasha Henderson would be appointed to the New Westminster Police Board, effective July 1, 2024.
Henderson said she was honoured to be appointed to the police board and to serve the community in this way.
“I really want to support the board’s efforts to become more transparent and present in the community,” she said. “Few people know what the police board does or who they are, and they are responsible for a large part of the city’s budget. I want us to open that up so that people have a better understanding of where their tax dollars go.”
At its July meeting, the police board held elections for the positions of chair and vice-chair. Henderson, attending her first police board meeting, was acclaimed as chair, and Heather Boersma, the longest-serving member of the police board, was elected as the its first-ever vice-chair.
In November, the police board approved a 2025 budget for the police department that represents a 9.76 per cent increase over its 2024 operating budget.
“There have been a number of different iterations with the operating budget,” Hyland said. “I think at one point we were looking at a potential 13-plus per cent. A lot of work has gone into that to bring that down.”
According to a staff report, non-discretionary items in the budget (including collective agreements, recruit training, E-Comm services, and contractual costs) represent a 6.5 per cent increase over the police department’s 2024 budget. Discretionary operational enhancements totalling $1 million represent 3.2 per cent of the increase over the 2024 budget, with the largest part of this increase (representing a 2.05 per cent budget increase in 2025) is for staffing as part of the NWPD’s backfill strategy.
What happened?
Here’s a look back at some of the policing related stories covered by the Record in 2024:
January
Three youths were treated by first responders after being pepper-sprayed at Westminster Pier Park around 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 9. New Westminster police officers responded to a 911 call from someone who saw a youth suffering the effects of being pepper-sprayed and determined a group of approximately 10 youths were suspects in these assaults.
A traffic stop by New West police resulted in the seizure of $110,000 in cash and vacuum-sealed packages of suspected fentanyl, cocaine, and crystal meth. Members of the Gang Suppression Unit observed a suspicious vehicle near the intersection of Eighth Avenue and 10th Street about 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 18 and initiated a traffic stop. The driver, who was prohibited from driving, was arrested; the passenger was also subsequently arrested.
February
New Westminster police warned older adults to be aware of phone scams after starting several new investigations in February. While the details of the scams varied, the common theme was that each victim was contacted by phone and pressured into sharing private financial information; scammers used tactics such as claiming the victim had won a prize or saying bail money was needed to get a family member out of jail.
March
The New Westminster Police Department teamed up with local business improvement associations to identify and arrest violent and chronic shoplifters. During the three-day Project Barcode campaign, police arrested 18 people.
Guns and drugs were among the items seized by New Westminster police as part of a “complex investigation” into drug trafficking that had begun in 2022. A search warrant executed in March resulted in the seizure of numerous firearms, stun batons, and kilograms of drugs. The seized drugs, which were suspected to be MDMA, cocaine, and fentanyl, were estimated to have a street value of $280,000.
April
New Westminster police warned residents to be wary about criminals impersonating police officers following a “deplorable” scam. Investigators learned that multiple people posing as police officers had spoken to a senior at her home and manipulated her into handing over several credit and debit cards, which were later used to make fraudulent purchases.
A New West police officer nabbed a backpack thief in downtown New West within hours of it being stolen from a third-floor room in Douglas College. The student’s backpack contained several thousands of dollars of electronic devices – all of which were recovered by the alert cop who saw a suspect walking near Westminster Pier Park.
A pedestrian suffered “minor injuries” and was transported to hospital after being hit by a driver in uptown New West on April 25. It occurred in the same block of Princess Street where another pedestrian was killed in December 2023.
May
New West police officers used “de-escalation techniques” after receiving a report of a woman with a knife in a building on Sixth Street. While the matter was safely resolved, it was scary for some of the folks in the downtown building as they didn’t know the reason for the large police presence or why the building was on lockdown.
The NWPD’s Major Crime Unit arrested a 51-year-old Surrey man and charged him with three counts of an indecent act, one count of exposure to a person under the age of 16, and one count of criminal harassment. In the previous six months, New Westminster police had received “numerous” reports of a man seen masturbating while peering into residences.
A Connaught Heights resident called the New Westminster Police Department after returning home and hearing someone inside their second-storey bedroom on Sunday, May 5 around 10 p.m. Police, who believed the intruder broke into the townhouse by climbing the exterior of the building, sought the public’s help (with CCTV or dash-cam footage) to locate the break-and-enter suspect.
A motorist died in single-vehicle crash in at the intersection of East Columbia Street and Brunette Avenue around 2:10 a.m. on Saturday, May 11. When police investigators arrived on scene, they saw that the westbound vehicle had collided into a pole and a concrete retaining wall. BC Emergency Health Services paramedics transported two people to hospital; the driver of the vehicle, an adult male, subsequently died.
A 29-year-old man was convicted of assault causing bodily harm and forcible confinement in connection to a July 5, 2021 incident in New Westminster. The man was sentenced in May to 10 years in prison for a violent assault at the Braid SkyTrain station, in which a SkyTrain attendant was violently assaulted.
June
The New West Police Department worked with the BC RCMP Explosive Disposal Unit to safely remove a suspected explosive device in the West End on the afternoon of June 19. Out of an abundance of caution, several roads were closed and some residents were asked to leave their homes while police dealt with the device. The NWPD later told the Record it had confirmed the device “did pose a safety risk to the public” but officers were able to neutralize it on scene.
A suspect was arrested in connection to an alleged assault on New Westminster’s boardwalk that involved an “edged weapon” – possibly a meat cleaver. Police said a man was walking along the boardwalk on the evening of June 19 when he reported being attacked from behind by a stranger. Thanks to witnesses who came forward, police were able to identify a suspect and made an arrest two days later.
New West police arrested a man after receiving a call from a security guard who reported seeing a man with a handgun in the area near Tanaka Court and Gifford Street in Queensborough on the evening of June 24. Police seized a replica handgun and arrested a suspect.
July
A man was sent to hospital with “major abdominal trauma” after an incident by the staircase at Westminster Pier Park. A person flagged down a New Westminster police officer outside of the police station saying a man was in distress and needed help. When officers found the man, he appeared to be the victim of a stabbing. Police later announced two individuals, an18-year-old and a 19-year-old man, had been charged in connection to the July 30 incident.
Three-hundred kids aged five to 10 years of age attended the New Westminster Police Department’s popular soccer school, held July 22 to 26 at Queen’s Park Stadium. One hundred volunteers helped out at the weeklong event, which included soccer and a variety of displays, demonstrations and activities for kids.
New West police officers rescued a boater after his dinghy couldn’t cope with the fast-moving current of the Fraser River. The July 7 rescue occurred when a man in a small inflatable dingy was seen being swept down the river by the current.
August
New Westminster police announced arrests in connection to an attempted home invasion on July 8 at a home in the 900 block of 12th Street. Following the initial report of a masked individual who was holding a firearm and attempting to get into the house, police flooded the area and located a suspect who was allegedly in possession of a balaclava, rifle, and ammunition. At that time, the NWPD said officers also arrested a second suspect who was believed to be associated to the incident; that suspect was arrested in close proximity to a stolen vehicle that was thought to be associated to the incident. Following an investigation, the New Westminster Police Department announced a third suspect had been arrested for attempt break and enter with intent to commit an indictable offence, and using a firearm to attempt an indictable offence.
New West police (NWPD) investigated a possible hate crime after a woman wearing a hijab was spat on at a fast-food restaurant on the 500 block of Sixth Street on the evening of Sunday, Aug. 4. In addition to spitting on the victim, the female suspect allegedly made comments to the victim that led to its investigation as a possible hate crime. The NWPD notified the Provincial Hate Crimes Unit of the ongoing investigation.
September
The New Westminster Police Department called in the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team to investigate a Sept. 24 report of a sudden death that seemed suspicious. In October, IHIT told the Record that foul play had been ruled out as a factor in the 38-year-old woman’s death.
In response to several recent reports of sextortion, the New Westminster Police Department warned local residents regarding sextortion scams related to exchange intimate photos and video or engaging in "sexting" online.
New Westminster police said the “keen” eye of one of its officers likely prevented more people from being victimized. When responding to a call for service at a local residence on Sept. 11, an officer noted a number of suspicious items believed to be connected to identify fraud. A subsequent search warrant yielded a number of items connected to identity fraud, including more than 8,000 pieces of stolen mail, a firearm with ammunition, three replica firearms, over 1,500 stolen or fraudulent bank cards or identity cards, over 50 passports, and items that can be used in the manufacturing and production of fraudulent documents.
October
A New Westminster senior was heartbroken after a fraudster made off with about $20,000 in gold jewelry, including several rings and a necklace. The theft prompted a warning from the NWPD about several different scams involving fake gold jewelry. In this case, a female suspect engaged the victim in brief conversation before giving the victim fake gold jewelry and stealing the real jewelry.
The Major Crimes Unit began investigating after the New Westminster Police Department received two separate report of suspicious incidents involving young girls. On the morning of Oct. 26, a stranger in a cargo van approached two 12-year-old girls in the 200 block of 11th St and asked if they wanted to go for a ride. Police learned a similar incident had occurred on Oct. 17 on Seventh Avenue, between Second and Fourth streets.
Three people were stabbed and one suspect arrested at restaurant in a New West casino on the afternoon of Saturday, Oct. 26. Police reported that an altercation between two groups of people on the patio of the restaurant inside the casino resulted in serious but non-life-threatening lacerations to three people.
November
The Emergency Response Team and the New Westminster Police Department descended on a downtown condo on Nov. 10 after a man with a history of violent offences was allegedly seen violating his court-ordered conditions.
December
New Westminster police investigated after a local resident was defrauded of $3,000 through an Interact e-Transfer scam. Police say the Dec. 12 incident occurred when someone was attempting to sell an item on an online marketplace.
New West police revived four people in seven days with Naloxone. The police department said one of its patrol watches had experienced a recent increase in the number of people revived with Naloxone, with officers administering the drug to save the lives of four people in the past seven days.
New Westminster police investigated after a pedestrian died after being struck by a driver in the 300 block of McBride Boulevard on the morning of Dec. 18. The NWPD’s Major Crime Unit is leading the investigation, with support from the RCMP Integrated Collision and Reconstruction Services Unit.
