Pubdate: Fri, 23 Nov 2001 Source: Surrey Leader (CN BC) Copyright: 2001 Surrey Leader Contact: http://www.surreyleader.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1236 Author: David Marsh 'SKYCOPS' BID FACING EXTINCTION Almost 18 months after a special police unit was announced for the SkyTrain line, the initiative remains stalled and could get axed as soon as next month. B.C. Solicitor General Rich Coleman told The Leader last week that the province will provide no money for the program, putting the funding burden on the cash-strapped TransLink and its member municipalities. "It's not a provincial responsibility," said Coleman, adding that cities have gained investment from hosting the SkyTrain line. "They shouldn't take the attitude of reaping the benefits, but not paying for the enforcement." Questions about funding, and how the new unit would be organized, have plagued the initiative since it was announced by the former NDP government in July 2000. Responding to complaints about drug dealing on and around SkyTrain, the plan was for an armed force using officers seconded from detachments along the line. But neither the province nor TransLink, the transportation authority responsible for SkyTrain, has ever committed any funding to the project. Larry Ward, president of TransLink's SkyTrain subsidiary, said the bid is still alive, although he allowed that the authority's financial woes will make it difficult without provincial help. It would cost roughly $100,000 per officer, he said, with a force size between eight and 16 members. "It would have to be our decision to proceed, competing with all the other things people want funded," said Ward, adding: "The priority seems to have gone off of this." Ward said TransLink's mayors and councillors will get a chance to decide the program's fate, possibly as soon as December. The options will be proceeding, seeking expanded police powers for the existing security-constable unit, or pulling the plug. TransLink board member Helen Sparkes, mayor of New Westminster, said she supports moving ahead with SkyTrain police in some form. New West is about to get two new SkyTrain stations, and her city police force is already stretched thin dealing with crime at the existing stations, she said. "Something has to happen," Sparkes said. "The status quo is not acceptable." - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake