Victoria Police Chief Del Manak has called on Island Health to "be better" after failing to adequately deal with a man arrested for allegedly selling cocaine outside a supervised consumption site.While officers were out looking for drug-related offenders on Pandora St. as part of Project 3D, they noticed a staff member speaking with the alleged trafficker, who was serving a long lineup of customers from a lawn chair near the door of an Island Health facility called The Harbour."A service provider is coming out, engaging with this drug trafficker while this drug trafficker is making transactions? It's unprofessional," Manak said, per Chek News. "I'm extremely disappointed to see that. That is absolutely unacceptable."The suspected offender was one of 16 people arrested during the two-day sting operation.."I do expect that if somebody is set up at your front door, and you know they're carrying out drug trafficking activities right under your nose, that there has to be somebody that has to say something," Manak added. "The health authority needs to be better."Island Health told Chek News that it was not "within the mandate or purview of a health authority or its staff to respond to potential criminal activity occurring on a public street," and made it clear they believed enforcement of the law was the responsibility of the police.Manak was not impressed, noting that this was far from the message that needs to be sent to offenders."We have a lot of people that are exploiting our most vulnerable people by distributing illicit and potentially toxic drugs on our streets," he said. "They’re not welcome in our community."
