Pubdate: December 29, 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/ Author: Daniel Sieberg POLICE JOIN FORCES FOR SKYTRAIN CRACKDOWN While officers from Burnaby and Surrey RCMP and New West police go undercover to chase criminals on the transit system, they're staying out of Vancouver until city police join their ranks. Surrey and Burnaby RCMP and New Westminster police have begun to crack down on SkyTrain drug-trafficking, putting undercover officers on trains and crossing jurisdictional boundaries. But the Vancouver Police Department has yet to come on board the so-called joint task force. Burnaby and Surrey RCMP detachments said they have members riding trains and patrolling stations. While they wouldn't say how many officers are involved - for security reasons - they did confirm there have been some arrests. New Westminster police are believed to have joined the task force, though no one from the department was available to confirm that information on Tuesday. The Burnaby, Surrey and New Westminster officers will stop short of Vancouver's borders. Vancouver police media liaison Constable Anne Drennan said the department has not yet allocated officers or resources to the force, but does support the idea. She said the department is still working on how to approach the problem and is focusing on Vancouver stations, primarily the Broadway station at the corner of Commercial. Drennan said Vancouver officers probably will ride the line between jurisdictions, in the same way as their counterparts in other municipalities. Mayor Philip Owen, chairman of the Vancouver police board, said the city is committed to solving the drug problems at SkyTrain stations and he is in favour of the joint task force. But at this stage the city is not ready to be involved. "If a couple of municipalities want to start something on their own right now then they're entitled to do that," Owen said. "We're supportive of it, but it's just going to take some time to work it out." Last Thursday, eight people were arrested - six for trafficking and two for possession - when Burnaby and Surrey RCMP teamed up with New Westminster officers, said Constable Philip Reid, media liaison for Burnaby RCMP. Reid said this coordination between law enforcement agencies will be carried out only periodically for now, with the potential for regular patrols in the new year. He said an assessment will need to be done to decide how to best distribute the high number of officers involved. There is some sort of illegal activity going on every day near the SkyTrain stations, Reid said, and police will have to fine-tune their collective method of dealing with it. "The community is quite concerned about safety at SkyTrain stations," Reid said. "We're responding to that by going out to the different stations." Reid could not confirm whether any arrests had been made aboard the trains, though he said there is no reason why they couldn't be. Reid said of Vancouver's delay in joining the task force: "They're doing their own thing for now. But we do expect them to participate later in the year, possibly mid-to late-January or early February." Reid said only undercover officers will work the line for now, with a switch to uniformed members sometime in the New Year. The rationale behind the joint task force was developed through a series of meetings held in November and December between the four law-enforcement agencies as well as TransLink and civic officials. A Nov. 23 report from the attorney-general's office has also recommended the idea of an armed SkyTrain police force unrelated to the joint task force. - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D