FROM SCHOOL LIAISONS TO YOUTH PATROL

Officers On Bikes Say They See More Than Police In Cars

It may be summer, but there's one aspect of school kids won't get a
vacation from - their school liaison officers.

From June 14 until school starts again, the Coquitlam RCMP detachment's
six school liaison officers hit the streets - usually on bicycles - as part
of the youth detail, a group that deals mostly with youth-related issues
such as vandalism, drinking, drug use and youths causing a disturbance.

"The minor types of crimes, but the ones that tend to garner the most calls
for service," says Cpl. Doug Francis, the officer in charge of the school
liaison program.

The team is made up of 12 officers, six of who are regular members and are
school liaisons during the school year, and six auxiliary constables. The
officers patrol in pairs - one auxiliary with one regular member.

The squad generally patrols three main areas - the Poirier Street area in
Coquitlam, Coquitlam Centre and Port Coquitlam - but Francis says, "If the
wheels fall off in one area, we can easily be relocated."

Within those areas, the cyclists cover what Francis calls "hard-to-get
areas" such as schools, parks, licensed establishments, known "crack
shacks," river paths, lakes, parks - any place a car can't easily access.

When the officers see kids hanging out in these areas, they will always
stop to chat and see what's up. Francis says a lot of the interaction is
positive - 90 per cent of kids are good.

"We're not out solely to go out there and charge kids," he says, explaining
that the youth detail wants to be a positive influence in the community.

One way to have that effect is to come up with creative punishments. One
officer who caught kids drinking in a school area confiscated their alcohol
and then ordered them to clean up garbage from the area instead of issuing
$58 tickets.

Calling parents has also proven to be a good deterrent.

"Parents will do more damage than a $58 ticket will," Francis says, adding
that some kids have begged for tickets instead of having their parents called.

"We do what it takes."

The team also deals with complaints from parents about beer and wine stores
and fake IDs, people drinking in parking lots and drug seizures.

"One thing I'm very shocked at is the amount of drug use I'm seeing in
teens," Francis says, shaking his head.

Two weeks into the summer the team had already made 25 drug seizures,
taking crystal methamphetamine, marijuana, ecstasy and bongs from kids.
Francis says that's about the same as last year.

Francis says that when confronted by officers on bicycles, some people are
less likely to try and escape.

Case in point, around 1 a.m. one morning officers were in PoCo, on the way
back to the office, when they saw a boy on a bike with no helmet or light.
They were going to give him a warning, but he gave them a false name and
when they checked his real name out there was an outstanding warrant for
the boy from Burnaby. They found drugs and tools that could be used to
break into homes in his bag. He was arrested.

"We probably prevented some offences that night," Francis says.

The reason it worked, he explains, is that the boy didn't see the police
officers until the last minute, which wouldn't have happened if they were
in a car. By the time he saw them, it was too late.

Francis says that late at night, he's seen people on bikes ride off, ditch
the bike and any evidence, and escape when they are pursued by police in a car.

"With a bike, they're less likely to flee."

From an evidence point of view, officers on bikes can often see a lot more
than those in cars.

Youth detail members were recently called to a disturbance in Coquitlam
River Park where kids were reportedly fighting with weapons. As the
officers rode up, they saw one kid throw pepper spray in the bush as the
group ran away.

Because they saw him do this, they were able to catch him, make an arrest
and lay charges for having a prohibited weapon.

Mundy Park, Francis says, is another success story. Three years ago, there
were problems with fires and kids drinking and using drugs, but youth
detail members went there for a week straight with no problems.

Last year, the first year the bike patrol was out, there were problems in
June, but the team stepped up patrols and nothing showed up during July and
August.

Although the members of the youth detail spend most of their time dealing
with youth issues, they also respond to general duty calls.

One day, a few minutes after leaving the office, officers came across an
elderly couple in the Coquitlam Centre parking lot. They turned over a
backpack they'd found, which turned out to be stolen. As they were dealing
with that, someone ran over to say that a traffic accident had just
happened nearby, and the officers responded. It turned out to be a serious
accident with injuries.

Francis says he not only loves riding a bicycle for the police, something
he has been doing for 12 years, but he also prefers it to driving a patrol car.

He says that on a bike, more people are inclined to give out information -
in a car, he says he'll talk to about 10 people per shift, mostly on calls,
but on a bike he'll chat up 15 to 20 people in an hour.

"You find out more, you can do more," Francis says.

On a typical weekend shift, one pair of officers will deal with seven
files, ranging from liquor and traffic offences to giving out warnings and
laying Criminal Code charges.

But the squad isn't all about matching "police" socks and riding leisurely
through parks.

All of the youth detail members are qualified to ride, having passed a
five-day police mountain bike course. Tests include riding 16 kilometres in
35 minutes, slow-speed riding, curbs, stairs, traffic riding, trail riding,
a bike stress shoot and five scenarios.

During any shift officers will ride between 10 and 63 kilometres, so
endurance is also important.

"It's not simply knowing how to ride a bike," Francis says.