Title: The Decriminalization Experience in BC: What the Data Says About Vancouver’s Decriminalization Program. with Vancouver Police Department: Superintendent Phil Heard, Director, Planning, Research and Audit, Drazen Manojlovic, and Director, Simon Demers

Superintendent Phil Heard has been a member of the Vancouver Police Department for 25 years. He is currently the Superintendent of patrol operations where he leads 700 frontline officers that annually respond to a quarter of a million calls for service.

Prior to this, Phil served for four years as the Inspector in charge of the Organized Crime Section where he led investigations that led to some of the largest drug seizures in VPD history. In addition, Phil worked with municipal, provincial and federal partners on drug policy, including the three-year decriminalization pilot project in BC.

Phil is an accredited Team Commander of major investigations. He previously served for five years in the Homicide Unit where he led files to convictions for all levels of culpable homicide.

Phil holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry and a Master of Business Administration from the University of British Columbia.

Simon Demers has spent more than 20 years in the Planning, Research & Audit Section of the Vancouver Police Department (VPD), including 15 years in the Audit Manager role and the past three years in the Director role. He also previously served on the Vancouver Police Museum Board, CACP Quality Assurance in Law Enforcement Committee, and CACP Research Advisory Committee.

Simon was part of the teams that were awarded two Chief Constable Unit Citations for the 2007 and 2017 VPD Operational Review projects. He later received a Manager’s Commendation for the 2011 Transit Police Operational Review and a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal.

Simon’s research ideas have appeared in various academic journals, and he received a Certificate of Outstanding Contribution in Reviewing (top 10% of anonymous peer reviewers) from the European Journal of Operational Research – the world’s largest academic journal in the field of operations research.

Simon was born in Ottawa, grew up in Quebec City, and spent a year at the University of Toronto before moving to Vancouver. He graduated from Simon Fraser University with an M.A. in Economics in 2005.

Director Drazen Manojlovic began his civilian policing career with the Hamilton Police Service as a research analyst/planner, where his achievements included a review of the policy and procedure process, facilitating the strategic planning process, analyzing employee satisfaction surveys, and designing and reporting on a public survey that assessed citizen’s views on policing needs in Hamilton.

Drazen moved to the Waterloo Regional Police Service as a research analyst/planner and his achievements included managing the strategic and business planning process, developing two community satisfaction surveys, developing a survey of crime victims, establishing crime analysis and crime mapping, developing a calls for service database used for patrol operational analysis, designing a time study of patrol and investigative functions, and co-authoring two municipal reports that successfully argued for an increase to authorized sworn and civilian strength.

Drazen moved to Ontario’s Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services where he conducted policy analysis on use of force, TASER use, the Youth Criminal Justice Act, and a review of ministry policing guidelines.  Drazen also conducted ministry inspections of municipal police services in the areas of property and evidence control, pursuits, supervision, communications and dispatch, and use of force.  Drazen also led two special reviews of municipal police service compliance with ministry guidelines on counter-terrorism and communicable diseases.

Drazen joined the VPD in 2008 and until 2022, he was in charge of the Planning, Research, and Audit Section, where he provided leadership and direction in policy research and development, strategic and organizational planning, and audits. Amongst other accomplishments, Drazen led the 2011 Stanley Cup Riot Review, has overseen the development of three Strategic Plans, and guided the successful appeal of the 2021 VPD budget to the Province of BC.  In 2024, Drazen became the VPD’s first Director of the Enterprise Risk Management Section and authored the recent reports on the Lapu-Lapu Day Block Party tragedy.

Drazen was born in the former Yugoslavia and emigrated to Hamilton, Ontario in 1971. Drazen completed an Honours Bachelor Degree in Urban Geography from McMaster University and a Master’s Degree in Urban Geography from Sir Wilfrid Laurier University.