Victoria Police withdraw from Vancouver Island Integrated Major Crime Unit<\/p>\n
Published 9:44 am Thursday, July 23, 2026<\/p>\n
Victoria police will once again handle homicide investigations within Victoria and Esquimalt after deciding to withdraw from the Vancouver Island Integrated Major Crime Unit.<\/p>\n
The change, announced the morning of July 23, means the Victoria Police Department will resume responsibility for investigating homicides in its jurisdiction.<\/p>\n
VicPD said the decision follows an ongoing review that considered crime rates, resource efficiencies and opportunities for internal development.<\/p>\n
The department thanked the Vancouver Island Integrated Major Crime Unit and the RCMP for their work on complex investigations.<\/p>\n
\u201cVicPD is deeply grateful to VIIMCU and the RCMP for their professionalism, expertise, and collaboration,\u201d the department said in a news release. \u201cTheir contributions to complex investigations and public safety in our communities have been significant and sincerely valued.\u201d<\/p>\n
VicPD said it looks forward to continuing to work with VIIMCU and the RCMP throughout the transition and in the years ahead.<\/p>\n
In response to VicPD\u2019s announcement, the RCMP said it supports the department after nearly two decades of working together.<\/p>\n
Supt. Bal Hansra, acting officer in charge of the BC RCMP Major Crime Section, recognized the department\u2019s contributions to VIIMCU since its creation in 2007.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe RCMP remains committed to maintaining a strong and positive partnership with the Victoria Police Department,\u201d he said. \u201cOur shared commitment to public safety and to the communities we serve remains unchanged.\u201d<\/p>\n
VicPD did not specify when the transition will take effect or provide further details on how homicide investigations will be managed during the change.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Victoria Police withdraw from Vancouver Island Integrated Major Crime Unit Published 9:44 am Thursday, July 23, 2026 Victoria…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":821312,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194298],"tags":[49,48,55],"class_list":["post-822929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-vancouver","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-vancouver"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822929","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=822929"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822929\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/821312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=822929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=822929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=822929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}