Edmonton city council discusses transit security

Edmonton City Council debating increasing spending to add more transit peace officers to downtown LRT stations — with some councillors saying more enforcement makes a difference.

“Not all the downtown stations are the hotspots, you know I think looking at providing additional transit peace officers and deploying them where they’re most needed makes a ton of sense,” said Anne Stevenson, the councilor for Ward O-day’min.

Edmonton city councillors discussing reallocating funds to bolster transit security — one option would see $1.8 million go towards increasing transit peace officers only in Edmonton’s downtown LRT stations — going from 96 to 108. A 5$ million option would see transit peace officers deployed city-wide.

The discussion around transit safety comes as police investigate a stabbing last Saturday, where investigators say a 34-year-old man was stabbed at a bus stop outside Meadows Recreation Centre. 

Edmonton police also investigating another stabbing that same night after a woman was stabbed. 

While council discusses which option to fund, councillor and mayoral candidate Tim Cartmell told CityNews Wednesday that having more officers in LRT stations makes a difference.

“So earlier this year, we had the ‘Hear to Help Campaign’ and the amount of incidences, the amount of calls for help, the number of interactions, in transit centres — and that had a knock-on effect — where incidences and calls for service went down,” explained Cartmell.