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A couple of the posts about carrying or presenting identification caught my eye. I know this is really old, but if anyone’s still interested I might be able to offer a bit of insight. Although I’m not an official spokesperson for the Transit Police, I am a serving officer.

Cliff is correct in stating that nobody is required to carry identification. If you’re involved in a regulated activity, like driving, you are required to produce a license or other documents, but if you’re just walking around or using the transit system, no law requires that you have ID with you.

Offences against the Transit Conduct and Safety Regulations are provincial statute offences, similar to, for example, drinking in public or having a campfire contrary to a ban. A person who is being investigated for such an offence is obliged to identify himself to the investigating police officer. The investigating police officer is, in turn, obliged to be certain that the person being investigated has provided the correct name.

This is a fairly straighforward process if the individual being investigated (who I will refer to as “the offender” to save a bit of typing time) is able to present identification. If not, we have to take whatever steps are necessary to confirm the offender’s identity. For obvious reasons, I won’t get into the details of how we do that, but it can sometimes take a considerable length of time.

Since we deal with a fair number of offenders who surrender to the temptation to try out a name they’ve just made up, we’ve all developed a healthy level of scepticism about verbal identification we receive from anyone. Cliff asked, “Why lie…?”. Well, the top three reasons we encounter are:

1. Offender wishes to avoid the Violation Ticket.
2. Offender is wanted on an outstanding arrest warrant.
3. Offender is in breach of court-ordered conditions, and knows he or she will be arrested once their real name is discovered.

The “obstruction” referred to in one of the earliest posts usually takes the form of an offender providing a false name, or simply refusing to provide a name at all. Doing either is a criminal offence, and is frequently what’s going on when you see someone wearing handcuffs in the company of a couple of Transit Police members.

I’ll take advantage of this venue to point out that the unfortunately fairly common practice of using a pass (U-Pass or other)that belongs to someone else is actually fraud under the Criminal Code. Persons who practice that particular form of fare evasion risk being arrested on the spot.

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One or more visible cameras above the area in front of the A&W Restaurant should deter people from committing acts of crime, violence or even loitering in an intimidating manner!

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Every week I see fights involving teenagers in front of the A&W Restaurant which is just a few metres from the 99 B-Line stop. I no longer feel safe there and it is part of the skytain station!

I am very concerned that when the Olympics are here and my friends are visting from the States, they will notbe positively impressed when they witness regular fights at a skytrain station.

Why are there no visible security cameras at Broadway Station above the area between the A&W Restaurant and the 99 B-Line Bus Stop?

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