CTrain safety in spotlight as weapon calls increase in Calgary

Following the latest incidents of violence on CTrain platforms around the city, Calgary’s police chief says they are working on strategies to ensure people still feel safe on transit.

On Tuesday, a man suffered serious injuries after being stabbed at the Lions Park station. This came a couple of weeks after a man was killed in a stabbing at Marlborough station.

In addition, a video shared online drew some criticism around police tactics when responding to a situation on CTrain platforms. The video, taken during an incident on Nov. 6, shows officers with guns drawn while they arrest a man at Marlborough station.

One officer was carrying a shotgun, and some people said it seemed excessive to have weapons out on a crowded platform while the suspect was already on the ground.

https://twitter.com/TaylorMadeYYC/status/1458091664183021568

In a statement, police say they were called to a weapons complaint at the station with somebody initially suspected of carrying a gun. It turned out the suspect was carrying a machete, and the 33-year-old has been charged as a result.

Chief Constable Mark Neufeld said when it comes to this incident, officers followed protocol.

“A heightened level of response from the officers that come down there, for obvious reasons. That’s to keep the public safe and to keep (officers) safe,” he said, adding this also reflects concerning changes in crime trends over the past year.

In 2021, there has been a 36 per cent increase in calls involving weapons compared to the five-year average. This includes incidents with guns, edged weapons, bear spray, and blunt objects.

“Some years back, maybe, it would have been shocking to see officers with weapons in places like that,” Neufeld said. “Unfortunately, it’s becoming more commonplace.”

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As the video of the arrest gets attention, Neufeld said people would be better off knowing the whole story of the incident before jumping to conclusions.

“I think if we would see the whole video — how it starts, how it ends — I think probably most people would say, ‘thank goodness those officers were there and I appreciate the work that was done.’ Going and cherrypicking out the thing you don’t like out of there and then complaining about it after is a bit unfair.”

But despite rising incidents of violence on train platforms and weapons being used in crimes, along with drugs like methamphetamine fueling these incidents as well, Neufeld said the general public doesn’t need to be scared

They are working on allocating resources in different ways now that ridership is increasing on transit after the pandemic reduced a need to have patrols through stations and on platforms.

“I think we’re seeing a return to pre-pandemic levels of use of transit and other public spaces, and so needing to get those visible patrols back on schedule I think will make a big difference,” Neufeld said.

Neufeld says efforts have to continue to decrease crime in other ways and figure out how to prevent these incidents from happening in the first place.

Earlier this week, a request from the Calgary Police Service for an extra $6 million in the 2022 city budget was criticized as people say funds need to be moved to other services in order to better serve the community and people in crisis in particular.

RELATED: New Calgary city council debates 2022 budget

Neufeld said they are continuing hard work on call diversion, integrating social services into their daily operations, and engaging with the community with initiatives focused on anti-racism. In order to do that, they will need extra money in the meantime to help with that.

“I think we want to continue down the road of making the type of progress that we have made with respect to those commitments, but at the same time, this has been a really turbulent time.”