With a spike in violent incidents on Edmonton transit, a union is calling for more resources to protect transit operators and riders.
“The weapons on the system tend to be everything from guns to knives, bear spray, mace, blunt instruments, clubs, you name it, it can be anything,” Steve Bradshaw, president and business agent for the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 569, said.
“We need (peace officers) better equipped, we need them with broader authorities and we need the police to be partners in those patrols.”
Between July and December of last year, Cheryl Voordenhout, a spokesperson for Edmonton Police Service, said police attended 1,432 calls for service in the transit and LRT systems. The busiest month was December with 313 calls.
“Since the repeal of the loitering bylaw in 2021, calls for service in transit stations have grown,” Voordenhout explained. “The severity of violence per offence is three times higher than any other part of the city.”
While officers are still responding to calls for assistance, Bradshaw told CTV News Edmonton he would like to see the LRT beat reinstated at EPS.
“The police are not present on those LRT patrols and they used to be,” he explained.
“If they were there doing the job with the peace officers as they used to be, it would be a much better situation.”
Bradshaw said the number of overdose callouts are climbing, on top of an increase in crime.
“It's more than rising, it’s spiking,” he exclaimed.
Witnessing incidents like an overdose daily can be taxing on the peace officers, Bradshaw added. Especially when there’s a high volume of absenteeism within the fleet.
“It’s a difficult job,” he said. “They’re not getting a break to heal.”
'WE’RE NOT GOING TO GET RIDERSHIP BACK'
The City of Edmonton declined an interview with CTV News, but did respond with a statement.
“We take the safety of riders, staff and contracted workers on site seriously,” Adrienne Cloutier, a spokesperson for the city, wrote.
“We rely on EPS to address any criminal activity in and around transit and our public spaces. In response to the impacts to staffing, the City of Edmonton has formally requested Extra Duty Detail resources for support from the EPS as of January 6, 2022.”
According to the statement, calls to the Transit Control Centre increased by more than 400 per cent by having security guards and patrols in place.
The city will also be adding two more transit peace officers to provide support to the Community Outreach Transit Team. However, Bradshaw told CTV News they need more.
“The bottom line is that we’re not going to get (ridership) back until perspective and reality come together to have a safe, secure and clean system,” he said.
In addition to patrols, the city said there are also 3,800 security cameras on trains, buses, transit centres and LRT stations. But, one ETS rider said she still doesn’t feel safe riding transit.
“There’s certain places I just don’t go,” Laverne Dockrill said. “I go out of my way and go all the way to Clareview just to avoid certain stations.”
'FIGHT FOR THESE CHANGES'
Shalini Sinha, the chair of the city’s anti-racism advisory committee, said there needs to be a shift in power to begin addressing community safety on transit.
“Transit is extremely important,” she said. “Who currently uses transit? People who don’t have access to cars. Those are people who are under-resourced in our society.”
Sinha told CTV News she’s hearing from peace officers and transit workers that there’s a ”breakdown” in the relationship between them and the police.
“We need a well-resourced independent anti-racism body that is driven by a community that can stand toe-to-toe with police and city administration to bring these voices and to fight for these changes in the system that we need,” she said.
Sinha emphasized the importance of implementing strategies to better educate Edmontonians on how to support the city’s most vulnerable populations.
“It’s not an us and them situation,” she said.
ETS riders who feel unsafe or need to report an issue can call or text Transit Watch at 780-442-4900. Transit users are also encouraged to call 211 for non-emergency support for shelter, intoxication and mental health related incidents.
With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Touria Izri
