Advocate worried over Metro Vancouver Transit Police's new 'community safety officers' planned for 2023

Metro Vancouver Transit Police is launching a new Community Safety Officer Program in 2023 with new hires to support transit police and enforce transit bylaws. But an advocate worries the program could negatively affect vulnerable people.

B.C.'s Minister of Public Safety says the program, announced Thursday, is a cost-effective way to allow the police force for TransLink — the region's public transit system — to focus on serious crime and manage resources more efficiently.

"Community Safety Officers will expand the Metro Vancouver Transit Police's capacity to uphold public safety on the transit system," said Mike Farnworth.

But Meenakshi Mannoe, criminalization and policing campaigner for Pivot Legal Society, feels the money could be better spent.

"While there may be some reasoning that these officers can offer protection or 'proactive policing,' I think the main thing that their presence does is deter people from riding transit," Mannoe told CBC.

"If they are poor ... unhoused or fearful that they have warrants against them and they don't want to take transit."

Mannoe says she and her organization would rather see the $1.6 million TransLink has set aside for the program invested in things like infrastructure, accessibility and public health supports.

She suggests the money could be used to provide passengers with masks, improve sanitation and enhance the overall rider experience.

"It should just be something that folks walk out their door and get on to, without any barriers," she said, adding she'd like to see the transit authority implement a universal access program for people who can't afford to pay to take the bus or SkyTrain.

She'd also like to see the money diverted to increase protections for passengers who are immune-compromised.

'Community-focused approach' for new officers

Const. Amanda Steed, media relations officer for Transit Police, says community safety officers will be tasked with enforcement; equipped with batons, pepper spray and handcuffs; and have a different mandate from transit police officers.

"They have more of a community-focused approach," she said in an interview. 

"They'll be attending community events, they'll be doing crowd control, traffic enforcement. They'll be an extra uniform presence on the system, attending low-risk calls for service that don't necessarily require a police officer to attend."

The frontline officers will go through a "rigorous" 10-week training — which includes courses on mental health awareness, crisis intervention and de-escalation, use-of-force tactics, traffic safety and community policing — and spend seven weeks learning on the field, according to a news release.

Steed says officers will be trained to wield use-of-force tools when needed, but will only be able to issue tickets and make citizen's arrests — detaining people until police arrives to assist them.

"By adding the community safety officer program we can add an extra layer of safety and reassurance to the travelling public."

But Mannoe says she fears the most vulnerable people are more likely to be singled out on public transit.

"I think that any time that a police agency is authorized to use force against the public we should have serious questions about who is targeted," she said.

She adds that transit police were recently involved in an investigation by the Independent Investigations Office after a police-involved shooting in Vancouver's Gastown neighbourhood.

"They're not immune to issues that are rampant in other police forces as well."

Steed says 24 new community safety officers will be deployed across the 22 municipalities served by Transit Police, with the first 12 expected to complete training and be on the ground by fall 2023.