SKYTRAIN CRIME CRACKDOWN COMING

The SkyTrain stations where passengers feel most anxious and insecure
will get full-time uniformed patrols as TransLink unleashes a barrage
of new measures to convince people it's safe to ride.

The changes - which include plans to use police dogs and new ways to
alert security to trouble - follow extensive consultations and the
completion of two detailed studies on crime along SkyTrain.

Rapid transit officials say the work has led them to conclude Transit
Police must attack stations perceived as most dangerous even if actual
crime stats don't bear that out.

The four most feared stops - Surrey Central, New Westminster, Broadway
and Main Street stations - now have attendants or police stationed at
them full time, along with Metrotown in the evening.

Passenger surveys found Waterfront station in downtown Vancouver was
perceived as the safest spot on the line, but that area actually has
the highest rate of crimes per 100,000 people passing through.

"Other stations have much lower crime rates and yet the anxiety level
is high, due to the presence of what transit customers call 'unsavoury
people' in or around stations," said Doug Kelsey, president of the
TransLink subsidiary that runs SkyTrain. "There are things we can and
will do about that."

Surrey Central is the station passengers surveyed found least safe,
and it had the second highest crime incident rate of all stations.

Transit Police are also testing the use of police dogs - either black
labs or German shepherds - and weighing whether they want dogs trained
to sniff out explosives, drugs, or for general duty work.

Transit Police Chief Ward Clapham said regular dog sweeps would
reassure riders.

"It would be a deterrent to those that would commit crime on and
around our system," he said. "And I mean bus loops, bus stations and
on the buses also, not just on SkyTrain."

An eight-officer crime reduction unit has also been formed, and now
has an analyst attached to provide intelligence-led or "smart" policing.

Drug sweeps have been an increased focus for Transit Police already
this year, with arrests up 83 per cent over last year.

Eleven Transit Police officers have just been issued bikes and 10 more
will have them by the new year.

The two-wheeled patrols are what Clapham counts as a force multiplier
that will speed officers through the neighbourhoods around stations
and along trails to root out trouble.

He counts each pair of officers on bikes as having the impact and feel
to citizens of eight regular officers.

Clapham said more also must be done by other levels of government to
address the problems of drug addiction and mental illness that are key
sources of crime and anti-social behaviour.

Police can't keep following the traditional approach of arresting
those who cause crimes or disturbances.

"They go to jail, they go to court and they're right back out again,"
Clapham said. "It's just a revolving door. I'm trying to muster up the
community to say 'enough is enough.'

"Not every time does it make sense to be jailing a mentally ill or
drug addicted person. We've got to think smarter than that."

Improved lighting and video surveillance are also part of TransLink's
strategy to improve SkyTrain security.

The possible use of turnstiles and smart cards is also being
studied.

'SkyWatch' snitch line coming to transit

A group of hooligans riding SkyTrain are drinking, making threatening
comments and effectively terrorizing the other passengers.

Everyone's scared. No one gets up to press the yellow alarm strip to
call security.

Transit Police Chief Ward Clapham has been on just such a train,
dressed in civilian slacks and a golf shirt on his way downtown to the
Festival of Lights.

Clapham discreetly pulled out his cell phone and tapped out a text
message.

"I text messaged my office, said here's where I'm at, here's where
we're going."

Police officers boarded the train at Stadium station.

"The rest of the people on the train stood up and started cheering and
clapping," Clapham recalls.

The four men were booted off the train, lost their liquor and were
issued tickets.

Clapham says a new program called SkyWatch will let any SkyTrain user
with a mobile phone call for help the same way, starting next year.

Passengers and the public will be urged to text in reports of trouble
and suspected criminal behaviour.

SFU Surrey communications manager Terry Lavender said he's hesitated
before to get up and press the alarm strip because he feared he'd draw
the wrath of the rowdy and belligerent thugs on board and help would
take too long to arrive.

"Text messaging would be great," he said.

Student Sanum Sandhu agrees.

"That's a pretty good idea," he said. "It makes it less obvious. I
think more people will be willing to call for help if they weren't
afraid of drawing attention to themselves."

Before the 'crime train' arrives

New research has shed light on how to prevent crime from taking root
in an area before SkyTrain arrives.

A Transit Police study looked at a month of incidents within 250
metres of sites of the future Canada Line stations in Richmond.

It found six per cent of crime incidents in Richmond happened in that
zone - even though rapid transit has not yet arrived - while four per
cent of crime in Surrey happens within 250 metres of that city's
existing four SkyTrain stations.

Further analysis is planned to see what can be done to reduce crime
along the future line in Richmond or prevent it from increasing after
the Canada Line opens late next year.

One idea is for the city to use zoning and business licensing to bar
certain types of operations from setting up shop near future stations,
including cheque-cashing services, adult video stores, pawn brokers
and some fast food outlets.

The report also suggests Richmond carefully consider the impacts of
letting services for the drug addicted locate along the corridor.

An improved streetscape design on No. 3 road is planned to attract
more people, using lighting, cycling infrastrucgture, street
furniture, artwork and other amenities to establish a "tone" for the
area that may lead to a better sense of security.

Similar "transit village" concepts are being explored for Surrey
Central, Edmunds and Broadway that may lay the groundwork for
expansion to more stations.

Research also suggests the Richmond crime hotspot isn't the only area
in the region where high crime rates pre-dated the arrival of SkyTrain.

The report says the drug trade has thrived at the Broadway/Commercial
area, Columbia Street in New Westminster and Whalley in Surrey for
decades before the Expo Line was built.

It also notes a 250-metre radius around some stations includes
significant numbers of methadone clinics, needle exchanges and similar
services.

The addiction services, the dealing, graffiti, litter, and low-end
businesses that are attracted send unsavoury signals to the public and
heighten apprehension, it said.

Findings show 12 per cent of crime in Burnaby and Vancouver happens
within 250 metres of local SkyTrain stations, and four per cent of
crime in the case of Surrey.

Drug crime is the most prevalent within those zones.

BY THE NUMBERS

Crime rates by station (incidents per 100,000 boardings)

1. Waterfront - 50.3
2. Surrey Central - 30.5
3. Broadway-Commercial - 15.8
4. Granville - 11.8

Stations that feel safest - Waterfront, Burrard, Metrotown, Granville,
Stadium

Stations that feel riskiest - Surrey Central, New Westminster,
Broadway, Main Street-Science World, Metrotown

Top suggestions to improve security

- - More transit staff/police

- - Remove unsavoury people

Factors that make riders feel safe

- - lots of people around

- - no 'unsavoury' people (loiterers, panhandlers, drug users,
etc)

- - visible security

- - good sightlines

- - safe neighbourhood

Transit security average response time to calls

- - 3.5 to 4.5 minutes

Who is most concerned about SkyTrain security?

- - People from Surrey, Langley, North Delta and White
Rock

- - Women, particularly at night

- - Infrequent SkyTrain riders, who may be less aware of security
features

Source: TransLink surveys and Transit Police crime studies.