The city of Edmonton is working to make its public transportation system safer following the recent violence and riots that have shaken riders.
A shocking scene greeted people boarding the LRT at Churchill Station late Wednesday afternoon: a hammer placed on one of the seats, along with a jar of peanut butter, bread and a floor-melting escalator.
There was a huge pile of clothes and a dirty backpack on the floor. The Naloxone kit was placed in an adjacent seat.
“I was quite worried to see this kind of disorder on the LRT train,” said Edmonton Mayor Amarjit Sohi, with whom CBC News shared photos from the scene.
Carrie Hotton-MacDonald, branch manager of the Edmonton Transit Service (ETS), had a similar reaction.
“I was furious,” Hotton-MacDonald told CBC News. “It makes it very, very difficult for riders to use the service when they see these things and when it happens.”
A hammer was abandoned in the LRT seat on Wednesday. (Court Sloan / CBC)
The scene depicted in the photos is definitely not the norm, she said.
“This is a very definite reminder to me that people use LRT as a shelter and need better support.”
Sohi believes the transit disorder is a symptom of bigger problems with affordable housing and mental health, which he blamed on the Alberta government.
“As a municipality, we are collecting the pieces of the consequences of the lack of investment from the provincial government,” he said.
Providing support for mental health, as well as ending homelessness and the drug poisoning crisis, is a provincial jurisdiction, he added.
Rob Williams, a spokesman for the Secretary of Transportation, said in an e-mail statement that the 2022 budget supports funding for homeless shelters in addition to the $ 29 million a year of the Edwardon Homeward Trust for programming, including support housing.
The province has also made significant investments in providing treatment to people with addictions and has provided police tools to connect people with treatment, he said.
“We see the police as part of the solution to the public safety concerns shared by Edmonton residents. Public safety is the responsibility of the city and must be properly funded by the mayor and the council.”
The Naloxone kit was left unattended at the LRT on Wednesday afternoon. (Court Sloan / CBC)
Consequences of LRT violence
Tensions in the city are rising after a 78-year-old woman was pushed onto the LRT tracks on Monday night by a stranger.
Her alleged attacker has been arrested and also charged with assaulting a man with a weapon the next day at another LRT station.
“Illegal activity is not welcome in our transit system,” Sohi said. “There is no tolerance for violence or threatening behavior in our transit system.
Police in Edmonton have been called to LRT stations and transit centers a total of 561 times so far this year, police said.
More than half of the cases are related to violence, disorder or weapons.
Police have responded to the Coliseum LRT station 84 times this year, the most of any station. Churchill had the second number of cases with 73.
(CBC News)
In response to concerns expressed by the public following the violence this week, the city of Edmonton is stepping up its transit security program, launched in February.
The $ 3.9 million three-year program will now include an opioid response team and five other public transportation teams, according to the city.
(CBC News)
Five more transit peace officials will begin in June; Two more security dispatchers have been added to work at the 24-hour transit control center, Hoton-MacDonald said.
Next week, the city will announce a plan to reopen toilets at the transit station, which will include safer access, she said.
“We are listening and we know that more support is needed,” said Hotton-MacDonald. “In general, I believe that our system is safe. I think we can do more to make it even safer. “
The Edmonton Transit Office has more than 130,000 trips a day, most of which are safe, she said.
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