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.