Skytrain Pigs Now to Get Dogs
Police dogs to help TransLink take bite out of SkyTrain crime
By Kelly Sinoski, The Vancouver SunDecember 1, 2008
METRO VANCOUVER — TransLink plans to boost bike patrols and introduce police dogs at SkyTrain stations in an attempt to bolster security and quell a public perception that the transit line is a magnet for crime.
The move, based on two recent TransLink public opinion studies and a crime analysis, is aimed at securing the public transit system, particularly at stations where transit users say they feel "apprehensive" or the least
safe.
The security review comes ahead of the 2009 opening of the Canada Line linking Vancouver and Richmond and the 2010 Winter Olympics.
"We really needed to step back and have an honest look at what was happening and how to deal with it," TransLink spokesman Ken Hardie said.
TransLink has already boosted the number of SkyTrain attendants and transit police at stations perceived to be the least safe, including Surrey Central, New Westminster, Broadway, Main and Metrotown.
It is also in the midst of training bike patrols, upgrading stations such as Broadway and testing sniffer dogs, making use of city police and RCMP dogs trained in detecting drugs and explosives.
Transit Police Chief Ward Clapham said if the dogs work out and are accepted by the public, transit police could develop their own team of sniffer dogs, using either German shepherds or Labradors, or work in partnership with Vancouver police and RCMP dog teams.
The dogs would help enhance routine drug sweeps.
According to the Greater Vancouver Transit Authority Police 2008 operational report, drug-related incidents increased this year with 364 cases between January and May compared with 208 over the same five-month period in 2007.
Hardie said SkyTrain often gets a bad rap for crime, but noted 71 million passengers board the train each year and there is less than one crime per 100,000 riders.
And according to the two recent studies, the public perceptions of security are not necessarily driven by crime rates at certain stations.
Waterfront station, for instance, was considered the safest station in Metro Vancouver, yet it has one of the highest crime rates in terms of incidents per 100,000 people.
Other stations such as Main Street - which had the 11th lowest rate of crime per 100,000 boardings - were considered less safe, mainly because of the presence of what transit customers dubbed "unsavoury people" such as drug dealers and users, loiterers and panhandlers.
"Main Street is perceived to be one of the worst places for crime; it gives people the willies," Clapham said. "Main Street's got sketchy people and squeegee kids, yet crime isn't as high as at Waterfront or Surrey Central."
Surrey Central, which was ranked least safe of all the stations, had the highest crime incident rate, at 30.52 cases per 100,000 boardings.
The studies, which surveyed 1,600 people as well as 2,700 online users about their security concerns, found transit users felt safer at downtown Vancouver stations because there are more people around. However, the combined number of incidents at those four stations is higher than in Surrey, where people feel least safe.
Customers listed Metrotown as being in the top five safest and least safe stations.
Clapham said transit users are influenced by different "warning signals" such as graffiti or drug users, which might make some people fearful when the area is actually safe.
"Our challenge, because we're in so many different communities, is that our style of policing changes so dramatically depending on where the train stops or the bus stops," Clapham said.
"We don't want to give any community a black eye saying this community is more crime-ridden than that one. Crime and criminals know no borders ... they're just going to capitalize on our weaknesses."
He said increasing the presence of bike patrols around stations will allow officers to respond to problems within 3.5 to 4.5 minutes. He said two officers on bikes have the same effect as eight officers on foot because they can cover more ground.
Hardie added there are also other services available to transit users such as silent alarms and platform phones, which will summon help usually within five minutes. TransLink is also planning a SkyWatch program where people can text in a problem or notify TransLink if something needs attention.