It won’t be an April Fool’s joke when Dave Jones shows up for work April 1 at a different place for the first time in more than three decades.
When the clock strikes midnight March 31, the lifelong Coquitlam resident’s 37-year connection to the New Westminster Police Department (NWPD), including the last eight years as chief constable, will come to an abrupt end and at that moment he will start anew as Metro Vancouver Transit Police’s top cop.
Jones’ journey to his new position began in the late 1970s, when his interest in policing was piqued as a Grade 9 or 10 student at Centennial secondary.
After graduation, he enrolled in the criminology program at Douglas College, which led him to do a practicum with the NWPD and ride-alongs with Coquitlam RCMP before joining the Royal City force as a volunteer reserve in 1982. Jones became an officer in 1986, the same year SkyTrain came to town, and never imagined he would one day be in charge of the city force — or policing the entire transit system.
“When you start, the job you apply for was to be a uniformed police officer driving a car. It’s the image most people have,” said Jones.
At 56, Jones feels he still has a lot to offer, and he thought a unique new challenge in a new environment would be refreshing.
“There were a couple of other opportunities that were also there but what I liked about this one here is the transit police are still growing. It’s a relatively new and young organization that is hitting the ground and is starting to establish itself as to what it is, what it does and how it does it. To be able to bring my strengths, my connections and reputation into it is to help the agency grow to meet the needs of what it is,” Jones told The Tri-City News.
One of the biggest challenges Jones faced in New West was being the staff sergeant heading up the force’s unit charged with cleaning up the crime and grime surrounding the city’s downtown SkyTrain stations in the late 1990s. That involved collaborating with city staff and the community as well as good old fashioned police work. Officers dressed up as a bus driver, complete with newspaper on the steering wheel and radio on the dash, to observe drug deals going down right in front of them.
“They had no clue these were police officers,” said Jones, still sporting his NWPD jacket. “It was a really bad place. In a one-year period, the unit I was involved with made over 750 drug arrests in about a four-block area. People described it as a war zone, and it was not good.
Jones said the Expo Line not only moved people efficiently, it facilitated the efficient movement of the street-level drug traffickers. Now, they’re doing drug deals in their cars away from the stations but that’s still an issue for Transit Police.
Not only does transit have to be safe, it has to have a reputation as being safe, and consistently so, said Jones. He cited Coquitlam as an example. It’s not only a safe place, it’s seen as a safe place, and must remain so as it expands skyward next to SkyTrain stations.
“What attracts families, businesses and people that do come here is it’s a safe place.”
He noted Transit Police cover more than just the SkyTrain line as well as being responsible for West Coast Express, SeaBus and all the buses. Of particular concern for him is preventing violence against bus drivers.
Jones has also served on the executive of Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police and is chair of the Coquitlam Field Sports Association. His collaboration skills should come in handy dealing with 22 municipalities and their various models of policing.
But don’t expect drastic changes. Transit ridership, he pointed out, is up higher than anywhere else in North America and that’s because “people are willing to use the system if it’s safe.”
“It’s going to be an opportunity, I’m going to say, to improve upon and refine how it’s going,” said Jones, noting TransLink’s expansion plans for Surrey and possibly to UBC. “So when you look 10 years out from now, the whole transportation network is going to grow even further.
“The transit system works for people who are probably in a more vulnerable situation, or at-risk people who can’t afford cars. So you’re dealing with a vulnerable population more in this environment as well. They need to ensure their safety is in place.”
