B. C. transit police packing Glocks
To patrol trains, buses and ferries ‘This is a great day for public safety’
VANCOUVER— With embroidered shoulder patches proclaiming they are “ safely linking communities,” officers with Canada’s first armed transit police force are on the job.
But, as the officers were introduced on the trains, buses and ferries of Greater Vancouver yesterday, it was their crimefighting weapons — .40- calibre Glock G22 semi- automatic pistols — that grabbed all the attention. Supporters said the handguns are simply equipment police need to make the system safer, while critics called the move a case of overkill.
“ This is a great day for public safety,” British Columbia Solicitor General John Les told a news conference at a downtown station offering SkyTrain, SeaBus and regional rail service. Each of the 70 members of the Greater Vancouver Transportation Authority Police Service will earn about $ 65,000 a year to patrol throughout the region, arresting those who commit crimes on the transit system as well as near stations. They also will be able to assist other municipal forces and the RCMP while still issuing tickets for transit infractions, including the $ 173 levy for fare evasion.
“ Transit customers will be better protected from the elements that try to steal our sense of security and our peace of mind,” said Bob Kind, chief of the first new police force created in B. C. in more than half a century. The new force, with an annual budget of $ 12.5 million, was announced in April 2004. Thensolicitor general Rich Coleman said earlier this year they would be able to carry guns.
Force members, three-quarters of whom are retired police officers, have undergone extensive training, including in weapons, and background checks like those any other cops face. They replace special provincial constables, who through legislation and court decisions, found themselves restricted from arresting people off transit property even if they witnessed a crime.
Because they now
have all the traditional
duties of police, they
require guns, Les said.
“ When the public see
police, they have a high expectation that they can respond,” he said. “ If you don’t have the proper tools, then that leads to uncertainty with the public.”
Riders’ reactions were mixed.
“ I sometimes feel unsafe, especially at night, so I think it’s a great idea,” said student Alexandra Stevlikova, 29. “If you haven’t done anything wrong, then you don’t have anything to fear.” But welder David Towers, 57, said armed police on trains will make him feel unsafe. “ Are we going to see somebody gunned down because they don’t have a ticket? We’re getting more like the United States all the time and I don’t like it at all.”
“ We recognize today we have a gun problem,” the solicitor general said, acknowledging the headlines in yesterday’s newspapers that four men were shot, one fatally, — in three weekend shootings. Les said a new force with full police powers was something the public had called for, especially after several recent violent incidents, including the beating death of a teen, in and around SkyTrain stations.
“ We want to promote transit ridership and that could be much more readily accomplished when people actually feel safe when they use the service,” Les told reporters. Asked why those operating transit systems in Canada’s two bigger cities ( Toronto and Montreal) do not feel they need an armed force, Les said he’s not making decisions for them.
“ I’m the minister responsible for . . . British Columbia. This is the appropriate response here . . .” TTC chief general manager Rick Ducharme called Toronto transit “ a completely different animal” from Vancouver’s Communities of the B. C. Lower Mainland are served by different police forces, whereas TTC deals with only one, “ and we review after every incident how well police responded.” The TTC has 76 special constables, who carry all the power of regular police, but not firearms. They patrol subway, streetcar and bus systems, responding to calls for help from dispatch. They can arrest people but hand over suspects to police for criminal investigations. The TTC will ask the city next week to approve hiring 21 new special constables in 2006, part of a five- year program to add 100 to patrols, Ducharme said.