Alberta Justice Minister Tyler Shandro is using his authority under the Police Act to direct Edmonton Mayor Amarjeet Sohi to push downtown police and the traffic system.
In a letter to Sohi on Tuesday, Shandro expressed concern over a sharp rise in violent crime and disorder.
Shandro has instructed the mayor to “take action” and present a citizen security plan in the province within two weeks.
“I have a responsibility under the Police Act to ensure that the people of Edmonton receive the police protection they deserve,” Shandro wrote in his letter to Sohi.
“Edmonton residents need to feel safe when they use public transportation, visit restaurants, attend events, and walk the streets of their own community.”
Data from the Edmonton Police Service show that crime in the city center increased by 11% in 2021, Shandro says in the letter.
Shandro says crime levels in central Edmonton and within the city’s traffic system have reached “extremely worrying and unacceptable levels.”
Sohi has not responded to a request for comment from CBC News, but is expected to speak to reporters later Thursday.
An EPS spokesman said police did not comment on Shandro’s letter on Thursday. Police Chief Dale McFee will attend a city council meeting Friday, the spokesman said.
The call for an improved police strategy comes as the city struggles with a series of violent crimes at the core, including the killings last week of two men in their 60s in the Chinatown. A 36-year-old man is charged with two counts of second-degree murder.
The killings have become a rallying cry for community members who flooded council chambers on Tuesday, calling for help in tackling crime and disorder in the Chinatown.
Article 30 of the Police Act sets out the powers of the provincial government to intervene in police matters within the municipalities.
The act says that when the Minister of Justice believes that a municipality is not providing or maintaining adequate and effective police services, the Minister may communicate to the City Council the measures that “the Minister deems necessary to correct the situation.”
In his letter, Shandro highlights the dangers of traveling with the LRT.
“A simple walk through the traffic lanes is often met with open drug use and the irrational behavior of many who use these places to pass for extended periods of time,” the letter says.
“There is a real and perceived threat to the many travelers who depend on public transportation to sustain their lives.”
Shandro refers to the killings in the Chinatown and a number of other violent crimes in the city, including recent attacks on city traffic.
In late April, a 78-year-old hospital worker was seriously injured when she was pushed onto the tracks of the Health Sciences / Jubilee LRT station.
“While unsanitary conditions and rubbish are still too common, it is drug use and aggressive encounters that are the most important safety concerns,” Shandro writes.
EPS statistics show a more than 11 percent increase in the number of violent crimes in the city center, from 2,382 in 2020 to 2,665 last year.
The severity of the crime in Edmonton’s LRT system and traffic centers grew nearly 60 percent last year, Shandro says in the letter.
More data show a 341% increase in reported medical incidents in traffic between 2019 and 2021.
So far this year, the EPS has reported 549 disruptions to the traffic center and LRT, including 130 violent incidents and 42 gun complaints.