4 POLICE FORCES UNITE IN FIGHT AGAINST DRUGS ON SKYTRAIN

Police in four cities agreed Wednesday to set up a special joint
forces operation to fight the growing drug problem on SkyTrain, while
the debate over how to police the line in the future heated up.

Senior managers from RCMP detachments in Burnaby and Surrey and
municipal forces in Vancouver and New Westminster met Wednesday at a
community policing office just a few blocks from Metrotown station.

Burnaby RCMP spokesman Sergeant Derek Cooke said all the agencies
agreed that the current way of dealing with the drug problem, with
each force launching occasional crackdowns on stations in their
jurisdiction, "tends to displace the problem from one community to
another, rather than eradicating it."

Cooke said the four police forces, along with Immigration Canada and
the federal justice department, agreed to meet again within two weeks
to discuss how long such an operation would last and how many officers
would be assigned to it.

"We're looking for something that can be done immediately," Cooke
said.

Ironically, while Wednesday's meeting was taking place, Cooke said,
two Honduran refugee claimants carrying 300 individually wrapped rocks
of crack cocaine were arrested at Kingsway and Edmonds by Burnaby RCMP.

On Tuesday, Burnaby RCMP announced that an undercover operation at
Metrotown resulted in 37 arrests. All of the suspects have been
charged with trafficking in crack cocaine.

Wednesday's meeting was held a day after the release of a report
prepared for Attorney-General Ujjal Dosanjh on SkyTrain security.

The report recommends SkyTrain have its own police unit made up of
officers seconded from the four police agencies. That unit would be
accountable to its own police board.

The report recommends seconded officers be paid for by TransLink
through a funding structure that would ensure the unit's
independence.

The idea of a SkyTrain police unit was greeted warmly by the four
police agencies Wednesday. But they warned staffing problems mean they
won't be able to contribute officers any time soon.

"Where would we get the bodies? Until we get our resourcing back into
shape, we couldn't proceed with the secondment," said Surrey RCMP
Chief Superintendent Terry Smith, whose detachment is already down
about 39 officers.

Acting Vancouver Police Chief Terry Blythe said his department is
struggling to maintain its authorized strength at a time when many
officers are close to retirement.

Unlike the RCMP and VPD, New Westminster police are currently
operating at full strength. But Chief Constable Peter Young said he
still has no extra officers to spare.

Meanwhile, the union representing existing SkyTrain special constables
criticized Tuesday's report, saying it makes more sense to simply
expand the powers of the 45 SkyTrain officers rather than create a new
police unit.

"We feel strongly that the existing SkyTrain special constables simply
need to be given back their authority to protect the travelling
public," said Gerri New, president of the Office and Professional
Employee's International Union Local 378.

In 1996, after a court decision involving port police, the
attorney-general's ministry notified TransLink security it could no
longer enforce drug laws or execute arrest warrants.

New said it is unlikely SkyTrain security officers would require
additional training if those powers were restored because roughly half
are retired police officers. The rest have received the same training
as municipal officers at the Justice Institute, with the exception of
firearms training.

Creating a police unit of existing officers was one of the six options
presented in the report to Dosanjh, but it is not the favourite. One
of the disadvantages of such a unit, the report argues, is that it
would create "a separate force overlapping other jurisdictions without
full operational coordination" with existing police agencies.

Jenny Kwan, the minister responsible for SkyTrain, said Wednesday she
supports a special police unit on the transit system.

"We have to make that system safe," she said in an interview from
England, where she is visiting the London Underground with other B.C.
transit officials. "The security force there needs to have the full
authority to detain people, and to deal with crime
effectively."

Kwan is examining London's overhaul of its fare collection system
along with Lecia Stewart, president of the new Rapid Transit Project,
and George Puil, chair of TransLink.

The London Underground is refitting all its stations with "Smart Card"
facilities that allow passengers to buy debit cards that contain
pre-set amounts of travel miles.

Translink is considering installing a similar system on the new line,
Kwan said.

Liberal leader Gordon Campbell criticized the visit as an unnecessary
junket, saying the group probably could have obtained information on
the system -- through the Internet, for example, without visiting London.