Pubdate: Fri, 26 Nov 1999 Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC) Copyright: The Vancouver Sun 1999 Contact: 200 Granville Street, Ste.#1, Vancouver BC V6C 3N3 Fax: (604) 605-2323 Website: http://www.vancouversun.com/ SKYTRAIN CRIME CALLS FOR UNIFIED ACTION Until permanent solutions are in place, beefing up transit security with police officers should increase passenger safety. Drug dealers cannot be allowed free rein on the system. It was only fitting that senior Vancouver and New Westminster police met with their Surrey and Burnaby RCMP counterparts this week near Metrotown to plan joint operations for dealing with out-of-control drug dealing in and around SkyTrain stations. The day before, Burnaby Mounties had arrested 37 people at the Metrotown platform and charged them all with selling crack cocaine. Police, SkyTrain management and a study of SkyTrain security prepared for Attorney-General Ujjal Dosanjh now all acknowledge what passengers have been saying for too long: SkyTrain is fast, efficient and affordable but people are afraid to ride it. Agreement on the problem is where consensus ends, though. The report to Mr. Dosanjh recommends creation of a multi-jurisdictional transit police squad that would be nearly identical to what the municipal and RCMP squads came up with after meeting with worried residents. The difference is that theirs will be of limited duration, while the one proposed to Mr. Dosanjh would be permanent. A permanent SkyTrain police force would almost certainly mean disbanding SkyTrain's own security force, who have the rank of special provincial constables. They do not carry guns (but do have batons and pepper spray) and, after a court ruling two years ago, can enforce the Criminal Code and provincial statutes but not the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. Roughly half of these constables are retired police officers; all have graduated from the same Justice Institute basic training program as municipal officers, short of firearms instruction. The SkyTrain special constables say if their authority to enforce drug laws were returned they could handle the job. (The attorney-general's report agrees that central to the problem is the unfair expectation that these constables perform the same job as police but without the tools to do so.) What to do? First, the combined-operations squad buys some time and should contain the drug problem for the near future. The inclusion of immigration officials in the mix improves an already good idea since there is an undeniable problem with refugee claimants who are here simply to sell drugs. But police are candid that staff shortages mean they are ignoring other duties to respond to this problem. Mr. Dosanjh is already pressing the federal solicitor-general to bring RCMP staff up to the prescribed levels. The SkyTrain special force gives him additional reasons. Mr. Dosanjh should also look for ways to restore the SkyTrain constables' power to arrest drug dealers. Meanwhile, SkyTrain should consider the report's conclusion that their current uniforms do not lend much air of authority to the constables and this could be remedied quickly and fairly cheaply. (Mr. Dosanjh might also grant them the right to use the word "police" on their insignia.) Most of all, police, the transit authority and Mr. Dosanjh must work together. With 13 new stations soon to be under construction, the need for an effective security plan is greater than ever. - --- MAP posted-by: Doc-Hawk