19 August 2026
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Chinatown Break-Ins Up 275% as Ken Sim’s Public Safety Strategy Falls Short
Vancouver, BC — New VPD statistics showing a 275 per cent increase in commercial break-ins in Chinatown demonstrate that Vancouver needs a broader and more effective approach to community safety, say the Vancouver Liberals.
Commercial break-ins increased from eight in the first six months of 2025 to 30 during the same period this year.
“Chinatown businesses have heard a lot of promises from City Hall,” said Kareem Allam, Vancouver Liberal candidate for mayor. “They’ve seen announcements, new offices and substantially higher police spending. What they need now are results.”
Since Ken Sim became mayor, the Vancouver Police Department budget has increased from approximately $345 million in 2022 to nearly $500 million in 2026, about 44 per cent.
“Simply spending more money doesn’t automatically make a neighbourhood safer,” said Allam. “Public safety also means clean streets, functioning public spaces, mental-health and addiction services, supporting small businesses and addressing the conditions that allow chronic crime and disorder to continue.”
Sim made Chinatown revitalization a major commitment after taking office and opened a mayoral satellite office on Keefer Street in 2023.
“An office in Chinatown doesn’t mean much if the people who actually live and work there still feel abandoned,” said Allam.
The Vancouver Liberals also questioned the City’s reliance on concentrated enforcement initiatives such as Task Force Barrage, the $5-million policing surge launched in the Downtown Eastside in 2025.
“The danger with this approach is that it can simply push crime and disorder from one block or neighbourhood into another rather than solving the underlying problem,” said Allam. “The latest numbers raise serious questions about whether that is happening in Chinatown, where commercial break-ins have surged even as neighbouring areas have not seen the same increase.”
Michael Wu, Vancouver Liberal council candidate and a former RCMP Auxiliary constable who served for 17 years, said Ken Sim and his ABC team are failing Chinatown because their approach has not been holistic.
“This issue should not be reduced to a debate about whether Vancouver is spending enough on police,” said Wu. “If you suppress crime on one block only to see it emerge on the next, you haven’t solved the problem. You’ve moved it around.”
“Police have an important role, but policing alone cannot solve every problem facing Chinatown. We need prevention, effective street-level services and real partnership with the people who know this neighbourhood best.”
The Vancouver Liberals are calling for a Chinatown-specific community safety strategy developed with residents, businesses, community organizations and frontline workers, with clear public reporting on whether conditions are actually improving.
“Chinatown doesn’t need any more empty promises,” said Allam.
“It needs a City Hall that listens to the community and delivers results.”
Media Contact:
Vancouver Liberals Communications