Saturday, June 17, 2006

Skytrain Cops

CD in Play: Mudhoney, Piece of Cake. (not the 2003 rerelease. Perhaps a trade in is in order?)

People in the Greater Vancouver Area (also known as GVRD) made a big to-do about Skytrain Police getting the right to carry firearms. I was mildly uncomfortable with the notion but understood the reasoning behind the move. (this happened before I had even considered taking another security job again) I have heard people from poverty rights groups and cop watch dog groups talk about how they have to put an end to this, even get rid of Skytrain Cops altogether. However, and this may come as a shock to some, I applaud them in the job they are doing.
Time and again they have assisted us on site when a problem has arisen and they were just passing by on their way to grab a coffee. Domestic distputes settled, potentially violent encounters diffused, drug dealers sent packing - all courtesy of the Skytrain Police, who have been very calm and professional in all these situations.
They also share information with us that we really need to know about - stuff that the RCMP's rather secretive culutre dictates we don't need to know for our own good. Our knowledge about certain drug dealers, theives and general trouble makers has improved and we are better able to monitor and safeguard the site.
The GVRD has been getting worse over the years and does not seem to be getting better. It's sad we need armed cops on Skytrain, but they are needed and that is a reality here. A recent Vancouver Sun article claimed that the BC RCMP are short at least 400 officers and many major crimes go uninvestigated. I'm not a cop and don't want to be one. I don't have the training they do and am not qualified to assume thier type of duties. However, we can aid them in many ways. Skytrain cops seem to aware of this fact, thus they are good to us.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home