The City of Prince Albert, Sask., has removed the benches at its downtown bus transfer station after a number of violent incidents over the last few weeks.
The benches were taken out on Feb. 11 following two assaults on bus drivers in the last month.
Prince Albert’s transportation and traffic manager said the city hopes that removing the benches will make the station a place less likely for people to start trouble.
“It was a decision we felt we needed to do because our drivers weren’t feeling safe down at the transfer station,” Keri Sapsford said.
But agencies that work with the less fortunate and homeless are confused why the city’s Vulnerable Peoples Working Group wasn’t consulted about the decision.
“If we continue just dealing with the specific small issue in order to move people away from an area, at the end of the day, we’re never going to solve the real problems,” said Brian Howell, manager of River Bank Development Corp.
He works with the city’s homeless population and helps find stable housing and access to programs.
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Howell noted decisions like this cause division and make the less fortunate feel like they aren’t considered to be part of the community.
Donna Brooks, the chief executive of YWCA Prince Albert, said decisions that involve multiple groups tend to have the best outcomes.
“If we talk beforehand as a group and then make a decision, it generally has a much more positive result than a knee-jerk reaction by anybody — even by us,” Brooks said. “A knee-jerk reaction is never a good reaction.”
Prince Albert Police Service (PAPS) is working with the city to create a design for the area that minimizes crime.
In a press release from the day the benches were pulled out, police responded to a fight that broke out at the station.
Prince Albert police said that members have conducted more than 50 proactive patrols at the depot since the start of the year and extra patrols have been conducted on numerous days and multiple times a day on other occasions.
Howell said the city’s relationships with organizations and the First Nations community is stronger than it once was. But the city needs to consider the consequences of its decisions on those simply looking for a place to sit, he said.
Howell said it might be better to focus on dealing with violence in the community, rather than violence at the bus depot. “Because then you tend to get into the broader solutions, rather than, ‘Let’s take the benches out.’”
Both Howell and Brooks cited other decisions made by the city and their impact on the vulnerable population, like fencing being erected outside of the Margo Fournier Centre and a curfew for using back alleys.
Sapsford noted the city will analyze crime data from the station to see whether a benchless station becomes a permanent decision.
She noted the city would be reaching out to the Vulnerable Peoples Working Group in the coming days.
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