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March 04, 2006
Man beaten to death on Edmonton bus
I was reading through my news feeds this morning when I came across a story, Edmonton man beaten to death on transit bus. I spent 20 years of my adult life in Alberta and find it appalling that Ralph Klein can brag about his 7 billion surplus this year, dole out his "Ralph Bucks" checks to every man woman and child, but continues to let this type of thing happen.
This isn't something new. For years there have been many recorded incidents of attacks on people using the public transit systems in Calgary and Alberta. Attacks of a very serious nature too. Many newspaper reports, over the years, have portrayed innocent victims who were shot, brutalized, raped and mugged using the public transit systems in these two cities.
And to think, I have two children living there.
The story goes on to say:
Out of a fleet of 800, only nine city transit buses are now equipped with camera systems. ETS is now looking at upgrading the technology but outfitting every route in the city would cost about $4 million.
Security needs to be upgraded in Calgary to, and not just the buses. The LRT system needs better security too.
I'm sure there are better uses for the surplus rather than just throwing it to the wind.
Posted by Steve MacLellan at March 4, 2006 08:46 AM
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Comments
I don't think that:
a) this can be realistically blamed on Klein for not spending money on "transit security" anymore than I could turn around and claim this as exactly the reason Edmonton Transit should be shut down entirely and preventing this problem ever happening again
b) cameras on the bus would make much of a difference. The Boxing Day hatcheting in West Ed was done in view of hundreds of witnesses. A non-fatal shooting in an Edmonton casino parking lot last summer occured in one of the best camera-covered places in the city. These kids seemed to have a deep animal urge to commit violence against the victim, and all cameras would have done was to make it so that we could catch them the next morning rather than having them turn themselves in that afternoon.
Posted by: Feynman and Coulter's Love Child at March 8, 2006 12:52 AM
I agree that cameras may not be the solution, but feel the matter of increasing security for those using the public transit system needs to be addressed.
If Klein is going to throw money around, it would be nice to have some of it land where it is needed.
Posted by: Steve MacLellan at March 8, 2006 04:47 AM
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