Transit Public Safety
Addressing social disorder and reducing the number of incidents on Calgary’s transit system is a high priority for The City. We are working to ensure Calgary has a safe, reliable and welcoming transit system that people want to use.
Calgary’s Public Transit Safety Strategy, which began implementation in late 2023 after approval from City Council, provides a three-year roadmap for achieving that goal. Central to the strategy is an evolution of service delivery and greater collaboration between transit peace officers, security guards, community outreach teams and Calgary Police Service.
The Public Transit Strategy includes:
- An integrated response between Calgary Police Service officers and Calgary Transit peace officers, who will be strategically stationed along the transit line, resulting in quicker response time to calls for service.
- An increase in the number of transit peace officers on the transit system.
- Enhanced authorities for transit peace officers to respond to safety incidents within a targeted response time.
- Coordinated dispatch of calls of services through Calgary 9-1-1.
- Improved station experiences for riders through standards of cleanliness and community engagement that focuses on building positive environments.
- Measures to ensure transit is used for its intended purpose of getting Calgarians where they need to be.
- Measures to help connect Calgarians experiencing vulnerabilities on and around the transit system to supportive resources.
How is the strategy helping to improve transit safety?
Integrated response. Transit peace officers, security guards and community outreach teams will be co-located at three locations along the LRT line (Westbrook, Downtown and Whitehorn), to better support our working relationship with the Calgary Police Service. The goal is to have uniformed officers respond within a targeted timeframe to an incident by granting transit peace officers enhanced authorities that will allow for efficient response times.
Police officers will target criminal activity, while peace officers will proactively patrol to prevent crime and disorder, and security guards will monitor and report criminal activity. Community outreach teams will connect vulnerable persons with supports and conduct welfare checks.
Overall, Calgarians will see an increase in visibility of uniformed response, providing a sense of confidence and security.
Connecting to community resources. Public safety reaches beyond transit. We’re collaborating with numerous partners, social agencies, boards, committees and commissions to explore new approaches to prevention and intervention within the community – to connect people experiencing vulnerabilities with the resources they need.
Some of our partners include Calgary Police Service, Calgary Alpha House Society, Calgary Drop-in Centre and the Calgary Homeless Foundation.
Staff well-being. Addressing many of the societal issues presenting on the transit system is complex. Our transit peace officers, and transit employees need specialized skills and training to, not just respond to the incidents that occur, but to identify certain social situations and address it appropriately, with competence and confidence.
City Administration will continue to focus on a comprehensive review of the Transit Bylaw 4M81 bylaw to identify opportunities to support the safety of riders and our staff working to provide transit services.
Systems modernization. Information sharing and utilizing data through up-to-date technology and communications systems can assist in developing safety solutions, from platform monitoring, proactive resource dispatching, and response times to transit incidents. An area of focus will be aligning dispatching services at Calgary
9-1-1, to ensure the right service is dispatched to the right call.
Station infrastructure. Riders can expect welcoming environments through enhanced cleaning, improved infrastructure design and new community programming. This is due to implementing the objectives of Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED), which encompasses proper design and effective use of the built environment to discourage negative behaviours. Having well-maintained infrastructure creates transit stations that are functional with opportunities for community engagement.
How do we know the strategy is working?
By measuring the reduction of crime and disorder on transit, we will know that success is being achieved. As transit riders see improved safety and a decrease in incidents, their sense of confidence and peace-of-mind will be another measure of success.
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Transit peace officers
Our uniformed transit peace officers are highly trained and skilled professionals, who help ensure you get home safely every day. They patrol our transit systems 24 hours, seven days a week, proactively preventing disorder and providing help in emergency situations. Night patrols are conducted in partnership with transit peace officers and police officers seven nights a week.
Calgary Transit's community outreach team
The community outreach team is a partnership between transit peace officers and the Human-centered Engagement Liaison Partnership (HELP) team from The Alpha House, to provide compassionate access to social supports. Officers complete welfare checks, advocate for clients and connect them with a variety of social support including accessing shelter, detox treatment and healthcare.
On average, each month, the community outreach team connects with more than 300 individuals, filling out 21 housing assessments and completing 88 agency referrals. These individuals may be the victims of hate crimes, a missing person who has ended up on transit, or someone whose behavior on the transit system is generating regular concerns raised by other riders. The community outreach team works closely with Calgary Police Services (CPS). Often, the community outreach team and CPS teams deal with the same clients.
This proactive work not only assists the individual in the moment, but it also reduces the load on emergency services resources and increases public safety.
Transit Watch
The Calgary Transit Watch program allows Calgarians to discreetly report safety concerns through our silent text services at 74100. You may also call us at 403-262-1000, option 1, to report your concern.
In addition, our CTrain stations, platforms and MAX Purple stations are all equipped with help phones where you can report your concern.
When you report a safety concern using the text service or a help button/phone, you are connected with an agent at the Transit Operations Centre. Agents are in direct contact with transit peace officers and have access to more than 1,200 security cameras at CTrain stations. When they know the caller’s location, agents can identify the nearest CCTV camera and view real-time information.
The Transit Watch service is for immediate safety and security issues, such as disorder, infrastructure issues, broken glass, or harassment. For general information like route or schedule inquires, customers should continue to use our app, website, Twitter or call us at 403-262-1000.
In situations where they feel that their safety is threatened, customers are reminded to always call 911.
Transit station security guards
Transit station security guards are staffed to select stations and respond to activity in real time to resolve issues as they’re happening. They also provide a visible deterrent for criminals, drug usage and social disorder.
The program launched in October 2022, and we currently have 31 guards deployed on the system.
Transit Ambassadors
Transit ambassadors maintain visibility, build rapport, and support transit customers with wayfinding or questions on trains and platforms.
Ambassadors work multiple shifts between 6:30 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. The ambassadors, who wear reflective vests, can be found at CTrain stations or riding the system.
Increased surveillance
The City has increased its CCTV surveillance - we have over 1,200 CCTV cameras across our CTrain system that are monitored 24/7 by security agents in our Operations Control Centre. The centre is responsible for dispatching officers, monitoring CCTV and responding to safety texts from customers.
Lighting upgrades
Transit has upgraded lighting on CTrain platforms from Downtown West/Kerby to City Hall. Enhanced lighting allows security cameras to capture clearer footage of platform activity and enables greater visibility across and within platforms, increasing rider and staff safety.
In addition to significantly improving visibility, the upgraded fixtures use highly efficient LED lights which will serve to reduce overall energy consumption and minimize maintenance costs for the next 10 years.