Council recently nixed the idea of installing surveillance cameras at the transit station. There are cameras on the buses. (Susan McNeil/paNOW)

By Susan McNeil

City Hall

Council does not see benefit of transit station surveillance cams

Apr 13, 2023 | 12:04 PM

A proposal to put surveillance cameras at the downtown bus transfer station was not endorsed by Prince Albert city council or staff, although the decision was not unanimous.

The city has been looking at various ways to improve security in the area after two bus drivers were assaulted and video security is just one option, said Evan Hastings, transportation manager.

“Back in the winter of 2020 and 2021, complaints began to rise from drivers and riders, including vandalism, harassment and even assault at the transfer station,” said Hastings.

Cameras do not prevent crimes, they record them, according to the report, and would not tell the city whether an offender was trying to use the bus or not.

The buses themselves now have cameras and recordings from those can be used to suspend riders who disobey transit system rules.

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“These cameras are closer and higher quality, and have audio. The vast majority of misbehaviour will be caught on these cameras, and it will be widely enforceable,” Hastings said.

Loitering in the transit station by people who are not using the system became a larger problem several years ago and peaked when ridership was sparse during the pandemic.

The benches in the station were taken out to try to deter the loitering, but actual users were “negatively impacted,” according to the report, so they were put back.

With the advice of police, drivers have since taken conflict management and de-escalation training, the transit manual now gives the city the right to refuse service and allows the giving of suspensions and has an emergency response section.

Police have made efforts to be more visible in the area, with members of the Community Policing Unit occasionally riding the bus.

The fourth idea was to install surveillance cameras, but when staff dug into it, the benefits are not very high, said the review.

Crimes connected to the transit system have dropped since the winter of 2021.

Ridership was very low during the pandemic and that resulted in an increase in crime at the station. Now that ridership has recovered, crimes have dropped.

Three councillors, including Dennis Ogrodnick, Charlene Miller and Tony Head all were in favour of installing the cameras.

“If we can stop or deter any crime down there, that would be the ultimate goal,” said Head. “It would announce to everyone that it is being monitored and that your actions are being recorded, so I do feel that alone would deter individuals from assaults.”

He also pointed out the change of hours with evening bus service now operational until shortly after 9:00 pm.

The volume of witnesses may be a deterrent with ridership back up to normal levels and the system fully operational with all routes running.

According to Hasting’s report, there are now 40,000 riders per month which equals 600 people per day and frequently there can be between 25 and 75 people at the station at a time.

The last incident of vandalism at the station was in October 2021.

It would have required five cameras and the light standards would have needed to be rewired with costs of around $16,000 plus annual fees.

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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com