The following letter was sent to the Vancouver Sun following our recent news release about Transit Police leaving an explosive on a commercial jetliner. Thanks to writer Douglas V. Bjorkman for allowing us to post it here.

Sirs:

Can anyone say "Keystone"?

I seldom find myself in agreement with the Canadian Taxpayers Federation but in this case they are absolutely correct in condemning the British Columbia Transit Police which have been a boondoggle since they were conceived.  It is about time they were summarily abolished.

The original justification for their existence was trans-jurisdictional issues.  This was a fiction as there are none.   The fact that a train or bus crosses municipal boundaries does not engender any conflict of law issues.  A peace officer has jurisdiction to investigate criminal violations wherever they occur.  Otherwise we would need dedicated police for automobiles as well as they clearly are also capable of crossing borders .

This heavily armed farce is staffed by personnel who either couldn't make the cut with real police forces or alternatively became to old for the regular forces, retired or were forced to,  and are are now  double dipping by collecting pensions while still working at the public expense. 

Now they have negligently left high explosives lying around.    Somewhere.  No one really knows because they can't be found.  But we are assured by their spokesperson,  Anne Dreenan, another retread from the Vancouver Police Force,  states that there is no danger to the public as the detonaters  weren't included.   This is absurd.  Gee, though it is true that Semtex will not explode on it's own what it it got into to the hands of a bad person?  Which it may well have. 

And these glorified fare checkers are armed with deadly force.  Who thought this was a good idea?  Ms. Drennan states that occasionally they deal with thefts and assaults.  I, for one,  would like to know if there ever has been an occasion where the threat of deadly force was needed.  This is a tragic situation just waiting to happen.

Some one should admit their mistake and get rid of these clowns.  And in the process save taxpayers and transit users millions of dollars.

Douglas V. Bjorkman
Vancouver, BC