They wear uniforms and they're armed to the teeth. They strut around looking frightening and are likely among the, justifiably, most hated people in town. They have been known to tazer vulnerable people for trying to run away. These police, such as they are known, are not part of a corrupt and poorly paid force in Mexico or the Philippines. These are own transit police in the third most liveable city, and third greenest, city in the world, the jewel of the Pacific Coast, the third largest city in one of the most highly developed and envied democracies in the world. My own dear Vancouver, Canada.
Our transit police exist primarily to make sure that fares are paid and collected and to spread fear and dread and intimidation among all transit passengers, or in the capitalist jargon of Translink our local transit authority, customers.
I have had my own share of unfortunate encounters with these pigs (I generally respect and support the police but these losers, in my opinion, are one sad exception). The first time it happened I was still on social assistance and a friend had dispatched me to the market to buy a chicken for Christmas dinner. I had no money for transit fare so I tried to get on the Sky Train anyway since it was too far to walk. I was caught and ticketed. I fought it in court and the amount was reduced from $44 to $6 dollars. Out of principal I still, fifteen years later, have not paid and I don't intend to.
I have had a couple of other run-ins since, primarily when a transit cop without provocation ordered me to put my hands up so he could frisk me. This was all because I had mentioned to a Transit attendant that checking fares on the train platform instead of at the entrance to the fare paid zone was rather like entrapment.
Today, this happened, and it has so angered me that I have written this email to Translink and have also sent it on to various elected politicians:
At 11:45 this morning at the Yaletown Canada Line Station there were a number of (three or four) police officers checking fares with metal barriers. What's wrong with this picture? They were targeting passengers who had just got off the Skytrain and coming up the escalator. This is entrapment and this form of vigilance and enforcement and intimidation has no place in a western democracy. It suggests a developing country with weak infrastructure and tons of government corruption and a violent and oppressive police force. Criminalizing public transit users does nothing to endear us and much to breed distrust and suspicion towards the people who are supposedly being paid to protect us. The fine for fare evasion is also unreasonable and punitive as the vast majority of fare evaders do not have the means to pay a $176 ticket.
If Translink really wants to get its money's worth without intimidating and humiliating the public there are alternatives. How about placing staff at the entrance of the paid fare zone to ensure that everyone has valid fare before going on the train. Anyone who does not have a valid ticket need only be politely and tactfully directed towards one of the vending machines. If someone does not have the money to pay they should be, out of compassion, allowed to ride the train free of charge. I believe that this gentler and kinder approach, in the long run, will actually save Translink money, reduce the need for policing and most important, help build with the public a relationship of trust and goodwill which right now is tragically and understandably nonexistent. Also, for Translink's information, I will be forwarding this email to a number of other parties.
And I will continue to not shut up.
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