Pubdate: Mon, 24 Jan 2000 Source: Province, The (CN BC) Copyright: 2000 The Province Contact: 200 Granville Street, Ste. #1, Vancouver, BC V6C 3N3 Canada Fax: (604) 605-2323 Website: http://www.vancouverprovince.com/ Author: Charlie Anderson DRUG DEALERS GETTING FREE RIDE ON SKYTRAIN TransLink's own police force are toothless tigers when it comes to dealing with drug dealers. The laws that govern SkyTrain's 42 special constables handcuff them too when it comes to arresting people they know have an outstanding warrant against their name. "When they see somebody who is wanted or they believe they have drugs in their possession, all they can do is alert the jurisdictional police along the line," said TransLink spokesman Ken Hardie. "And in the case of drugs, they ask the person to get of. "That presumes a police officer is available at the point where the individual gets off the line," he said. TransLink has been pushing the provincial government to restoring arrest powers which were routinely used until overturned by a 1996 court case. A recent government report on TransLink security concluded such arrests should only be done by recognized police forces with training - "which many special provincial constables do not currently have." Hardie counters that most of TransLink's special constables are former cops with an average of 20 years experience. Others were trained at the B.C. Justice Insstitute, lacking only advanced detective skills and firearms training. The officers, says Hardie, are content with their pepper spray and batons and have never pushed for firearms. TransLink's special constables are authorized to arrest for all criminal code offences that occur on the company's property. The arrest "trouble spots" are the larger stations, with Metrotown and New Westminster at the top of the list. In the first nine months of 1999, TransLink's police conducted 4714 arrests. Hardie says that's a very small figure when compared to the 47 million rides on SkyTrain annually. He also says it's unfair to compare the figures to some U.S. authorities. A "brush up" against an officer or a verbal assault could be recorded as an assault in TransLink statistics while a U.S. transit authority such as that in Washington D.C. only records offences when a firearm is produced or actual bodily harm occurs. Reactions to the report are being solicited until the end of this month. - --- MAP posted-by: Don Beck