BEEFING UP TRAIN POLICING

Riding SkyTrain is going to get safer, if a new provincial government
initiative goes as planned.

Solicitor General Rich Coleman announced Friday that SkyTrain
constables are being given new powers.

"Passengers need to feel safe when they use SkyTrain," Coleman said.
"We're creating a new policing unit with increased authority to deal
with criminals."

Currently, the special constables can enforce only minor offences such
as fare evasion, unauthorized liquor, littering and assaults.

Under the new plan, officers will have the authority to enforce drug
laws, execute outstanding warrants and arrest people who have
committed crimes outside of a SkyTrain station.

"We have heard some problems before when the criminals escape through
SkyTrain, and security there cannot do anything," says Burnaby North
MLA Richard Lee, pointing to drug traffickers as an example.

"Some drug traffickers are using SkyTrain as a way of doing business,
so this could curtail those kind of activities a lot."

Lee notes that he held a public forum in his riding prior to the
Millennium Line, where he heard many concerns about safety at SkyTrain
stations.

"So this is a very positive step in rectifying the situation and will
give more public confidence in the public transportation system."

The new and improved constables, who will report to a board of police
chiefs from municipalities along the SkyTrain route, are expected to
be set up by the end of the year.

But what equipment they will eventually carry and where their
jurisdiction will end is still up in the air.

A press release from the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor
General states that the 77 officers of the unit will wear a 'police'
shoulder patch on their uniforms. Although they won't carry firearms,
the ministry notes that "the Justice Institute of B.C. will review
equipment policy, including handguns, once the unit is operating."

It also states that the government is working with SkyTrain and
municipal police to establish protocol for the new unit.

"Officers will be able to make arrests outside of SkyTrain property
but how far their authority will reach is still to be
determined."

Carl Schmietenknop, superintendent of the Burnaby RCMP, says he's very
pleased with the plan.

"We're all in support of it. I think it's great. They'll have their
powers enhanced which will help us tremendously - it will help us out
all around," he said, noting Burnaby's high number of SkyTrain stations.

When SkyTrain began operating, there were 20 stations and 21
kilometres of track. Ridership at the time was estimated at less than
76,000 people per day. Twelve special constables, wearing grey slacks
and purple jackets, patrolled the line.

The system now has 32 stations, 51 km of track and, according to
TransLink, daily ridership of nearly 170,000.

Now, instead of 12 special constables, there are 77.

In 1986, the special constables issued 451 violation tickets on
SkyTrain. In 2003, they issued more than 60,000.