The City of Edmonton will hire 21 new law enforcement officers to patrol its public transportation while discussing their safety due to drug use and rising crime at the facilities.
Concerns rose on Monday as a woman faced having her leg amputated after being pushed on rails at a light rail station.
The City of Edmonton said it ranged from 72 law enforcement officers last December to 93 in July. It has 84 of its sets so far.
It also increases the number of community engagement groups from two to seven in total.
Each team consists of a police officer and a community worker who will connect individuals with specialized services, such as mental health, addiction treatment and housing.explanation by Carrie Hotton-MacDonald, Manager of the City of Edmonton Department of Transportation.
He added that the City is looking to hire a Director of Transportation Safety to implement its three -year action plan. In particular, it plans to reopen access to its public toilets soon and will make an announcement on this topic early next week.
Since the pandemic began, the number of homeless people in Edmonton has doubled, according to the municipality. Many of them find shelter in public transport facilities, sometimes due to lack of space in shelters.
The mayor of Edmonton acknowledges that action must be taken now.
” Right now, many Edmontonians don’t feel safe on our public transportation. “
Amarjeet Sohi said that in order to improve safety in public transport, we must attack the sources of these problems. The lack of affordable housing and mental health and addiction supports is not unique to Edmontonhe begged.
The most frustrating, for me, is that we are living with the consequences of the provincial government’s lack of investment.he explains.
Ending homelessness and the opioid crisis is the responsibility of the provincial government. He is not the leader on these issues. As a result, more people are causing problems with our public transportation and downtown.
The province believes it is doing its part
Asked about this during an inquiry on Thursday, Justice Minister Tyler Shandro recalled that his government and the federal government recently announced approximately $ 159 million to help Alberta municipalities facing declining revenues. on public transport during the COVID-19 pandemic. Edmonton will receive approximately $ 67 million from this envelope.
Municipalities can use these funds as they wish and this includes security, says Tyler Shandro. He added that his government has raised the budget for community and social services by 7% since last year.
According to New Democratic Party transportation critic Lorne Dach, this is a mirage.
The province has developed the habit, over the past three years, of making budget cuts, then said that it then raised budgets, but it was less than it spent then. We face a reduced budget for housing and public transport. Of course not enoughsaid Lorne Dach.
Source: Radio-Canada
