CITY PUTS WARNING STICKERS ON PAY PHONES TO SCARE OFF CRIMINALS

There are only 30 pay phones on public property left in Calgary's
inner city, but concerns over the phones being used for drug deals is
prompting the city to try scaring criminals away from them.

The city will launch what it's calling Operation Sentinel today, an
initiative in collaboration with Telus that will see warning stickers
put on the 30 phones.

Those stickers warn callers that the phone number, date and time of
the call could be sought by police as part of an investigation into
illegal activities.

That in itself is not new. Police have always had the ability to
access phone records using a warrant.

What is new is the sticker warning.

Ald. John Mar, who spearheaded the initiative, said problems have
cropped up around inner-city pay phones and he hopes the warning will
discourage criminals from using them.

"We want to show Calgary is being aggressive and moving forward and
taking away the tools used by criminals," Mar said.

But the threat of pay phone records being used in court may be more
about shooing away undesirables from some community corners.

That's because records from the coin-operated phones are rarely, if
ever, actually used in court.

"In a drug investigation, I've never heard of it," said Bob Sigurdson,
associate chief federal Crown prosecutor in Calgary. "Most people
don't use pay phones anymore. Nowadays, they use cellphones."

"(The stickers)sound like a device to discourage people from doing
their dirty business on the pay phones."

Mar said that's certainly a crucial part of the initiative.

"This is a program that's been successfully done in the United
States," he said, noting he got the idea after seeing similar stickers
while in San Francisco for a conference. "Really, it's about
perception, isn't it?"

Lorna Wallace, a project manager with Calgary's city centre
implementation team, said the city has had some pay phones removed to
deal with problems, but doesn't want to rip out any more because
there's still a demand for them.

"We've tried every way possible to keep a phone, and that's what this
is about."

Beltline Communities association president Rob Taylor said he's heard
people talk about pay phones being a magnet for some problems, citing
one on 4th Street and 14th Avenue S. W. as an example.

"If it stands a chance of working, let's try it," he said of the
program.

Charlie Stewart, president of the Criminal Defence Lawyer's
Association of Calgary, said the wording on the sticker poses problems
because it says the phone records can be had via subpoena.

But a subpoena is only used after charges are laid, he said, while
warrants are used to gather evidence and need a judge's consent.

"To suggest the police can just get a subpoena to get (the records) is
ludicrous," Stewart said. "That doesn't make any sense."

Calgary police spokesman Kevin Brookwell said police always use proper
legal channels to access information and would never change that practice.

Moreover, Brookwell said, the stickers' point isn't just about court
cases. "It's more about the social issues and people conducting
criminal activity, hanging around certain pay phones, and that becomes
a community problem."