Council to consider dedicated transit police in Saskatoon
By Phil Tank of CBC News Saskatoon
When a Saskatoon group that lobbies for better bus service was formed 11 years ago, safety never occurred to its members as a core need.
Now some seniors fear taking the regular bus and use Access Transit instead, Robert Clipperton of Bus Riders of Saskatoon told city council’s transportation committee Tuesday.
“What we do know, however, is that the city needs to get this unfortunate situation resolved before Link starts up in 2028,” Clipperton said.
“Spending $250 million on our bus system while not providing sufficient resources so the people feel safe using it seems foolish to us.”
City council’s transportation committee apparently agrees, at least to the extent that an option for dedicated transit police will be considered at budget talks later this month.
The committee unanimously supported forwarding for budget consideration an option to spend $1.6 million starting next year on nine Saskatoon Police Service officers and two patrol cars.
The request comes at a time when council will be wrestling with a property tax increase for next year that was pegged at 9.9 per cent in June. A revised tax hike is expected Thursday.
A one per cent tax increase is roughly equal to $3.3 million in spending next year.
Other options considered by the committee included spreading the cost of adding police officers over two years and cheaper options to patrol buses and transit stations with fire department community support officers.
Council heard from two members of the transit union, who expressed support for having officers who could enforce laws and make arrests if needed.
“Operators and passengers are spending more time managing social disorder than providing transportation,” said Darcy Pederson, president business agent for Amalgamated Transit Union Local 615.
“No operator should have to decide whether to keep driving a route or stop the bus because of a safety threat. Let’s be honest [about] what’s happening. This is not simply a transit problem, it’s a social disorder spilling into transit.”
Having dedicated police for transit would be unusual in a city the size of Saskatoon, according to research by the city administration. Of 17 Canadian cities examined, only those with at least a million people had police officers dedicated to transit.
Some smaller communities employ peace officers who can enforce transit bylaws.
Mayor Cynthia Block asked ATU Local 615 financial secretary Rhealene Wagner about the different models for medium-sized and larger cities.
“I guess I would mainly say that Saskatoon is a small city with a big-city problem,” Wagner replied.
Saskatoon Transit currently employs 14 service supervisors, who support transit employees when there are incidents. The city also contracts Commissionaires to patrol the downtown and Confederation Mall terminals.
A dozen fire department community support officers are also split between patrolling transit and the business improvement districts.
The city administration is working with Saskatoon police to craft a bylaw that would allow trespassers to be removed from buses.
The transportation committee also supported considering spending $300,000 to partner with an Indigenous organization to launch a pilot project with so-called peacekeepers.
The plan would involve two four-person teams of Indigenous-led peacekeepers to patrol 12 hours a day, 365 days a year.
The original plan called for the patrols in a single business improvement district, but Riversdale Business Improvement District executive director Randy Pshebylo asked the committee to consider removing limits so the downtown and Riversdale could both benefit from the patrols.
Committee members asked questions of Saskatoon Emergency Management Organization director Pamela Goulden-McLeod about the lack of details on the pilot project.
Coun. Robert Pearce expressed concerns about liability for the city.
“Initially, when I read this (city report), I was really concerned that it was lacking a lot of detail,” Pearce said. Council can consider the one-time spending at budget and weigh it against other priorities, he said.
Councillors also suggested funding from other levels of government should be explored.
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