Edmonton hiring 30 transit peace officers for LRT patrols, scrapping security guards

Transit riders will see more peace officers patrolling the LRT and bus network in the coming months, but no more security guards on standby at transit stations.

The City of Edmonton is adding 30 more transit peace officers, for a new total of 126, at no extra cost to taxpayers. Officers will spend longer hours on the trains both at peak times and when there are fewer riders, and patrol teams will increase to four from two. The goal is to have more officers proactively patrolling, increasing their visibility throughout the transit system, but it could take six months to see boots on the ground.

Article content

City managers looked into how $5 million set aside for guards at private security company Commissionaires could be used in other ways for transit safety and recommended spending the full amount on transit peace officers instead. City council mulled another option — some funding for officers, and some for civilian station attendants — but ultimately landed on the original plan after a vote to split the funding did not pass.

David Jones, head of bylaw enforcement, told council having more proactive patrols has been shown to reduce complaints and calls.

“The ultimate goal of any law enforcement organization is to use methods that have a deterrent effect, allowing them to prevent rather than respond to public safety incidents,” he said Wednesday.

Jones pointed to the city’s ‘Here to Help’ campaign as proof proactive patrols can work. That pilot, which ran in eight transit hubs for about a month last fall, saw the calls deemed high priority drop 33 per cent in those specific transit hubs and 25 per cent overall compared to the same time the year before.

Article content

Article content

The results of the pilot have Ward pihêsiwin Coun. Tim Cartmell convinced the city should continue with something similar.

“That is a very clear, direct correlation that presence in these spaces results in safety and results in a greater perception of safety. So I very firmly believe that we should effectively permanently put that program in place,” he said.

Cartmell knows the decision won’t fix everything. Ideally, the city wants 75 more transit peace officers, and even if those positions were funded it takes time to hire and train new officers. But this is an improvement.

“This will never be utopia, right? It is gradual increases, improvements,” he said. “Slowly but surely, people’s confidence will be regained and their perception of safety will be gained.

“Are we going to catch every single thing everywhere, every time, in every place? No, we’re not. We didn’t have that before, and that is not a realistic goal. But is it going to be a lot better because we have these officers present? Absolutely.”

Article content

Fewer eyes, more overdoses?

Ward O-day’min Coun. Anne Stevenson pitched splitting the funds between officers and attendants to both increase patrols and provide other ways to make riders feel safer.

Police data shows crime severity on transit stations is on the decline, but the public’s perceptions of safety haven’t necessarily dropped at the same rate.

“My proposition was to have 20 new transit peace officers while also looking at safety attendants, a sort of constant presence in stations that can call in concerns, respond to incidents that happen, but also tidy up, welcome people and help them navigate the system.”

Security guards are currently stationed for several hours of the day in 19 of 43 transit stations. But the new transit peace officers won’t be stationary, meaning longer times when there could be no one around at all.

Drug poisoning overdoses could increase without that constant oversight, the city report warns. Commissionaires administered naloxone 207 times on the transit system in the first two months of 2025 alone. Overdoses appear to be increasing — naloxone was given out 524 times during the whole of last year.

Article content

That risk is another reason Stevenson wanted to keep some funding for station attendants.

“We want to be considering the safety of all Edmontonians, and there are marginalized Edmontonians who may be accessing this space and may require medical assistance,” she said.

“Without a constant presence there, there is a risk that more of those folks aren’t able to get the support they need, and that’s a real concern.”

lboothby@postmedia.com

@laurby

Bookmark our website and support our journalism: Don’t miss the news you need to know — add EdmontonJournal.com and EdmontonSun.com to your bookmarks and sign up for our newsletters.

You can also support our journalism by becoming a digital subscriber. Subscribers gain unlimited access to The Edmonton Journal, Edmonton Sun, National Post and 13 other Canadian news sites. The Edmonton Journal | The Edmonton Sun

Article content