SOLVING SKYTRAIN CRIME

Our stations don't have to be magnets for criminals. Proof? Look at
Washington D.C., a dangerous city with one of the world's safest subways.

Rock? You want rock?" For the people living near the Metrotown SkyTrain
station in Burnaby, it has become a familiar question. Young or old, male
or female -- all are seen as potential customers by the crack cocaine
dealers who hover just outside the station.

"Everybody enjoys the neighbourhood here," says long-time resident and
community activist Gary Wesa. "But when you approach that drug corridor at
the SkyTrain station, that's when the fear and apprehension sets in."

Lately, cars have been vandalized,

people have been threatened and homes have been broken into. For years, Pat
and Bill Goodacre enjoyed the two-metre-high wild rose bushes along the
bike path near the station that would often have beautiful blossoms each
year. A few weeks ago, the bushes were cut down by half because dealers
were stuffing drugs and weapons in them.

Last week, a group of concerned residents held a meeting at Maywood
elementary school to discuss the problem. Organizers expected 150 people.

Close to 500 showed up.

But those living near Metrotown are only the latest to deal with a crime
problem that seems to invade their neighbourhood, like clockwork, with the
daily electric hum of SkyTrain.

A year ago, police in New Westminster were overwhelmed with drug dealers
near a downtown station. Police in Vancouver have recently launched a
series of crackdowns on dealers near the Broadway station.

And Burnaby RCMP Sergeant Derek Cooke says that since police began cracking
down on the drug problem at Metrotown, dealers have moved to other Burnaby
stations like Royal Oak and Patterson.

Does it need to be like this?

Does mass transit like SkyTrain always make it easier for crooks and drug
dealers to get around and more difficult for police to fight them?

Is there, in short, a better way?

The answer can be found in, of all places, Washington, D.C., one of the
most crime-ridden cities in North America -- but the safest of all for
someone catching a subway train.

For every one million riders, the Washington Metro records only 1.5 serious
crimes (such as murder, rape, burglary and assault) according to a recent
study by the U.S. National Institute of Justice. That's the lowest crime
rate by far of any big-city mass transit system in the United States.

The rate is more than four times higher for the Lower Mainland's SkyTrain
system: 6.59 assaults and robberies for every million riders.

What makes the safety of the D.C. metro all the more remarkable is that it
has been achieved in a city wracked by gang warfare, much of it related to
the city's drug trade. America's capital has the highest homicide rate of
any U.S. city, more than 25 times higher than for Greater Vancouver.

Amid this urban chaos, maintaining the safety of the D.C. metro has not
come easy, said Barry McDevitt, chief of transit police.

It is the result, he said, of careful attention to how stations are
designed, vigorous enforcement of all rules and regulations and a police
force dedicated solely to transit safety.

And solving the crime problem on transit, he said, has prevented problems
from cropping up near stations as well.

Such positive results might lend hope to crime-beleaguered citizens like
Metrotown's Gary Wesa, especially at a moment when Skytrain is ready to
build 13 new stations in neighborhoods from Lougheed Mall to Vancouver
Community College.

An Angus Reid poll conducted last year of residents who will be within
walking distance of the new line found 40 per cent of those in favour of
SkyTrain were still worried it could increase crime, the highest concern of
those polled.

So far, however, Skytrain lacks at least three keys to success cited by
those who have closely studied Washington's experience.

blocking 'lazy' criminals with turnstIles.

One big difference between the D.C. metro and SkyTrain is how you get on.

SkyTrain uses a proof-of-purchase system. There is no barrier to getting on
the train but roaming staff issue $46 fines if they find you without one.
Other subway systems, like Toronto, require you to go through a turnstile
to get in.

The D.C. metro went one step further, using electronic fare cards you need
to get both in and out.

In addition to making fare evasion doubly difficult, the in-and-out system
helps keep the line secure, experts say.

SkyTrain has become "a free transit system for bad guys. Anyone who is
willing to deal dope is willing to cheat SkyTrain. ... It's a free
resource," says Paul Brantingham, a criminologist at Simon Fraser
University who has studied crime on public transit.

On the face of it, forcing drug dealers to pay $1.50 to jump on and off of
SkyTrain wouldn't deter anyone. But the reality, Brantingham said, is that
most criminals are lazy.

"A lot of crime is a byproduct of it being the path of least resistance, an
easy thing to do. Crime moves along SkyTrain partly because it's cheap and
easy and there's little risk and little effort involved," he said. "So if
you raise the effort bar a little, you squeeze some stuff out."

Ken Hardie, spokesman for TransLink, the regional transit company that
operates SkyTrain, says there are no plans to retrofit existing SkyTrain
stations with turnstiles and that TransLink believes the current system
works. He said SkyTrain attendants check close to 700,000 tickets every
month on platforms and trains.

MAKING TRANSIT COPS REAL POLICE.

TransLink has 45 special constables dedicated to policing SkyTrain that
work in a day shift of six officers and a night shift of eight.

However, they do not have the powers of regular police. After a court
decision involving port police in 1996, the province forbid SkyTrain cops
from enforcing drug laws or executing arrest warrants.

Prior to the changes, SkyTrain police would often stop someone for a
transit violation, check their name with police and realize they were the
subject of an outstanding arrest warrant, often for something as serious as
robbery or assault.

Before 1996, SkyTrain police could arrest the person. Now they can't. The
most they can do is notify police in the area to come pick him up. But
because they have no power to detain the suspect, if he decides to run,
SkyTrain police can't stop him.

And while SkyTrain security can arrest people committing Criminal Code
offences, they can't enforce the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.

That means even if SkyTrain cops see people dealing drugs right in front of
them, "all we can do is ask them to leave the property or call the
[police]," said Ken Allen, operations supervisor for SkyTrain security.

TransLink has complained about these limits and the matter is currently
under review by the Attorney-General's ministry. The initial report was
given to Ujjal Dosanjh on Wednesday and will likely be made public in the
coming weeks.

On the face of it, the D.C. metro faces similar challenges to SkyTrain.
While policing SkyTrain creates headaches because it intersects four
cities, the Metro crosses three states: D.C., Maryland and Virginia.

But, from the beginning, the D.C. transit police were given the power to
launch investigations and enforce all laws.

"It's a regular police force with a tri-state jurisdiction," McDevitt
explains. "We enforce everything."

He can't imagine how the Metro would stay safe if his officers had anything
less than full police powers.

"Sometimes the local law enforcement don't have the resources to address a
problem on transit," McDevitt said. "Because of a myriad of other problems
... [transit] may not be a high priority for them."

Here, with SkyTrain police prohibited from making drug arrests or executing
arrest warrants, much of the system's problems are left to the municipal
police in Vancouver and New Westminster and the RCMP detachments in Burnaby
and Surrey. The RCMP's severe staff shortage has made it difficult to
perform their regular duties, much less patrol SkyTrain.

'Broken window' approach to riders.

Bottom line, McDevitt doesn't attribute the D.C. metro's success to big
drug investigations. Instead, it's the way his officers enforce the small
stuff -- like eating on the trains.

Most transit systems in the world have a myriad of rules that riders must
follow. For example, eating and drinking are technically forbidden on
SkyTrain.

But the rules are not always enforced. If your drink has a lid, for
example, SkyTrain security will probably look the other way, Allen concedes.

And even if you are breaking the rules, the only penalty on SkyTrain is
being asked to leave the system (if you refuse, you can be fined $150).

Meanwhile, in Washington, even the smallest violation is treated seriously.

If you're a tourist unfamiliar with the rules, McDevitt said, you might get
off with just a warning.

Everyone else faces tickets ranging from $10 to $300 for "minor ordinance
violations". Like a speeding ticket, riders in D.C. either pay the fine or
fight it in court. But if the offender fails to show up, a judge can issue
a warrant for his arrest.

And while SkyTrain police can't execute arrest warrants for even serious
criminals, D.C. cops have their very own "warrant squad" that tracks down
those who don't pay their tickets and arrests them.

Metro staff also make liberal use of "public reprimands" when they see
someone breaking the rules on surveillance cameras.

For example, McDevitt said, "the train operator will make a general
announcement, to everyone on the train: 'To the guy on Car Number 3: Stop
eating the Sandwich,'. ... It is kind of a public embarrassment. But it
works."

The attention to rule enforcement, McDevitt said, is based on the "broken
window" theory of law enforcement. "If you take care of the small things,"
he said, "the large things don't come along."

It "sends a signal to the criminals out there: If they're stopping that
person for spitting gum on the platform, for sure they're going to catch
you doing your worst offence," said Nancy La Vigne, a researcher at the
U.S. National Institute of Justice who has studied crime on Washington's
metro.

'It's just going to fester.'

One of the problems in addressing the crime problems on SkyTrain is that no
one person is in charge of making the entire system safer.

Designing safer stations on the new line is the job of the Rapid Transit
Project Office. Policing the existing stations is up to TransLink security.
And deciding whether or not to give SkyTrain cops more power is up to the
Attorney-General.

Meanwhile, back at the Metrotown station, it is just after 7 p.m. and
Sergeant Brian Stephens is on patrol.

Stephens, like most SkyTrain special constables, is a retired police
officer. He worked for almost 17 years on the RCMP's drug squad.

He stands at the bottom of the stairs leading to the SkyTrain platform. The
rain is pelting down hard and it is difficult to see much along the poorly
lit bike path where drug dealers tend to congregate.

Peering over the recently trimmed rose bushes, Stephens spots two shadowy
figures with loose-fitting clothing pacing back and forth along the path.

"He's got something in his mouth," Stephens says to a reporter. Crack
dealers often keep rocks of the drug hidden in their cheeks.

"I just saw him spit something into his hand and then put it back into his
mouth," he said. "That gives me reasonable grounds to check him."

But instead of searching the suspected dealer, Stephens continues to stand
under the awning, the rain continuing to fall, the dealers continuing to
march their turf.

As a SkyTrain special constable, Stephens, a cop who used to give expert
testimony at drug trials, can't legally enforce Canada's drug laws on
SkyTrain property.

"If somebody doesn't address these issues, it's just going to fester,"
Stephens says. "It's going to get worse."

ANTI-CRIME BY DESIGN

It's no accident that the subway system in Washington, D.C., is among the
world's most crime-free. When it opened 23 years ago it was one of the
first practical examples of something called CPTED (pronounced "sep-ted"):
Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design. The idea was to build
transit stations that would make life harder on criminals.

That included arched ceilings, instead of columns, and avoiding winding
corridors and blind corners. Result: no place to hide. Other design
elements on the D.C. metro include using graffiti-resistant materials and
reducing the number of benches to discourage loitering.

Ken Hardie, spokesman for TransLink, said some CPTED principles were used
on SkyTrain, too -- such as using metal mesh walls that are hard to vandalize.

But the Rapid Transit Project Office hopes to improve the design of the new
stations.

Earlier this year, it commissioned a massive study on SkyTrain and crime
that made a series of recommendations on how to design safer stations.
Some are shown here.