Pubdate: Fri, 24 Jan 2003 Source: Province, The (CN BC) Copyright: 2003 The Province Contact: http://www.canada.com/vancouver/theprovince/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/476 Author: Greg Middleton SIX VPD OFFICERS SUSPENDED Six members of the Vancouver Police Department were suspended yesterday for allegedly beating up street kids dealing drugs. The suspended officers, who range from relatively new recruits to one officer with almost six years service, are accused of picking up teenage drug dealers on Granville Mall. The six are said to have taken the three young men in a police wagon to Stanley Park where they were beaten badly enough for one to be taken to hospital. The police department's internal-affairs investigators have broken open the lockers of the six accused officers and seized their uniforms, boots and batons. They will be sent for forensic analysis, apparently looking for DNA evidence linking alleged victims to the officers. The six suspended officers are still considered innocent until proven guilty. While police were not commenting last night, The Province has learned a deputy police chief called together the entire shift that the six men worked on and announced the suspensions late yesterday afternoon. "I can't remember anything like this ever happening before," one senior Vancouver police officer said last night. The police officer said this "is not the 1950s," a reference to legendary stories of baseball-bat-waving police going after members of the notorious Clark Park gang after dark. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom