Pot times July 15, 2005
From School Liaisons To Youth Patrol
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n1115/a10.htmlNewshawk: Herb
Pubdate: Sun, 10 Jul 2005 FROM SCHOOL LIAISONS TO YOUTH PATROL
Source: Coquitlam Now, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2005Lower Mainland Publishing Group, Inc.
Contact:
editorial@thenownews.com
Website: http://www.thenownews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1340
Author: Jennifer Saltman
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm
(Youth)
Officers On Bikes Say They See More Than Police In Cars
It may be summer, but there's one aspect of school kids won't get a vacation
from - their school liaison officers.
From June 14 until school starts again, the Coquitlam RCMP detachment's six
school liaison officers hit the streets - usually on bicycles - as part of the
youth detail, a group that deals mostly with youth-related issues such as
vandalism, drinking, drug use and youths causing a disturbance.
"The minor types of crimes, but the ones that tend to garner the most calls
for service," says Cpl. Doug Francis, the officer in charge of the
school liaison program.
The team is made up of 12 officers, six of who are regular members and are
school liaisons during the school year, and six auxiliary constables. The
officers patrol in pairs - one auxiliary with one regular member.
The squad generally patrols three main areas - the Poirier Street area in
Coquitlam, Coquitlam Centre and Port Coquitlam - but Francis says, "If the
wheels fall off in one area, we can easily be relocated."
Within those areas, the cyclists cover what Francis calls "hard-to-get
areas" such as schools, parks, licensed establishments, known "crack
shacks," river paths, lakes, parks - any place a car can't easily access.
When the officers see kids hanging out in these areas, they will always stop to
chat and see what's up. Francis says a lot of the interaction is positive
- 90 per cent of kids are good.
"We're not out solely to go out there and charge kids," he says,
explaining that the youth detail wants to be a positive influence in the
community.
One way to have that effect is to come up with creative punishments. One
officer who caught kids drinking in a school area confiscated their alcohol and
then ordered them to clean up garbage from the area instead of issuing $58
tickets.
Calling parents has also proven to be a good deterrent.
"Parents will do more damage than a $58 ticket will," Francis says,
adding that some kids have begged for tickets instead of having their parents
called.
"We do what it takes."
The team also deals with complaints from parents about beer and wine stores and
fake IDs, people drinking in parking lots and drug seizures.
"One thing I'm very shocked at is the amount of drug use I'm seeing in
teens," Francis says, shaking his head.
Two weeks into the summer the team had already made 25 drug seizures, taking
crystal methamphetamine, marijuana, ecstasy and bongs from kids. Francis
says that's about the same as last year.
Francis says that when confronted by officers on bicycles, some people are less
likely to try and escape.
Case in point, around 1 a.m. one morning officers were in PoCo, on the way
back to the office, when they saw a boy on a bike with no helmet or light.
They were going to give him a warning, but he gave them a false name and when
they checked his real name out there was an outstanding warrant for the boy from
Burnaby. They found drugs and tools that could be used to break into homes
in his bag. He was arrested.
"We probably prevented some offences that night," Francis says.
The reason it worked, he explains, is that the boy didn't see the police
officers until the last minute, which wouldn't have happened if they were in a
car. By the time he saw them, it was too late.
Francis says that late at night, he's seen people on bikes ride off, ditch the
bike and any evidence, and escape when they are pursued by police in a car.
"With a bike, they're less likely to flee."
From an evidence point of view, officers on bikes can often see a lot more than
those in cars.
Youth detail members were recently called to a disturbance in Coquitlam River
Park where kids were reportedly fighting with weapons. As the officers
rode up, they saw one kid throw pepper spray in the bush as the group ran away.
Because they saw him do this, they were able to catch him, make an arrest and
lay charges for having a prohibited weapon.
Mundy Park, Francis says, is another success story. Three years ago, there
were problems with fires and kids drinking and using drugs, but youth detail
members went there for a week straight with no problems.
Last year, the first year the bike patrol was out, there were problems in June,
but the team stepped up patrols and nothing showed up during July and August.
Although the members of the youth detail spend most of their time dealing with
youth issues, they also respond to general duty calls.
One day, a few minutes after leaving the office, officers came across an elderly
couple in the Coquitlam Centre parking lot. They turned over a backpack
they'd found, which turned out to be stolen. As they were dealing with
that, someone ran over to say that a traffic accident had just happened nearby,
and the officers responded. It turned out to be a serious accident with
injuries.
Francis says he not only loves riding a bicycle for the police, something he has
been doing for 12 years, but he also prefers it to driving a patrol car.
He says that on a bike, more people are inclined to give out information - in a
car, he says he'll talk to about 10 people per shift, mostly on calls, but on a
bike he'll chat up 15 to 20 people in an hour.
"You find out more, you can do more," Francis says.
On a typical weekend shift, one pair of officers will deal with seven files,
ranging from liquor and traffic offences to giving out warnings and laying
Criminal Code charges.
But the squad isn't all about matching "police" socks and riding
leisurely through parks.
All of the youth detail members are qualified to ride, having passed a five-day
police mountain bike course. Tests include riding 16 kilometres in 35
minutes, slow-speed riding, curbs, stairs, traffic riding, trail riding, a bike
stress shoot and five scenarios.
During any shift officers will ride between 10 and 63 kilometres, so endurance
is also important.
"It's not simply knowing how to ride a bike," Francis says.
