A video circulating social media shows Edmonton police telling a group receiving help from a local homeless service provider to leave the Central LRT station. (SCREENSHOT/FACEBOOK)
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Edmonton’s police union says officers who ordered a group of homeless people to leave a transit station during last week’s cold snap are being unfairly “chastised” for doing their jobs.
In a letter sent to officers Friday, Edmonton Police Association president Michael Elliott said a chance to clarify policies around how officers interact with the homeless community — especially during extreme weather events — has turned into a disciplinary issue.
Two police officers, who were filmed ordering a group of people out of a transit station during a cold snap Feb. 14, are now the subject of a disciplinary complaint.
“This incident could have been an excellent learning opportunity for everyone involved but the service did not take their time to obtain all the information,” wrote Elliott, a sergeant. “Instead, the service immediately issued an apology and reacted to the mayor and public opinion.”
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“This should be a learning and outreach opportunity, so we all make sure this gets fixed for the next time. Making this into a discipline complaint is the wrong way to go — especially for members who were trying to do their job without ‘clear direction’ on how to do it.”
Edmonton police apologized last week after the two officers were filmed ordering a group of people to leave Central LRT station. The group included homeless people and members of the Bear Clan Patrol, an Indigenous outreach group.
Judith Gale, an outreach worker with the patrol, told Postmedia that prior to filming the interaction, one of the officers took food from one of the men. She said the wind chill was around -33 c when they were ordered onto the street.
File photo of Sgt. Michael Elliott taken in 2013. Photo by David Bloom /Postmedia
Among those who apologized for the incident was Acting Chief Alan Murphy, who told city council police should have arranged transport and other services for the people ordered out of the station.
“We must do better, and for this we are sorry.”
In the letter, Elliott said Murphy’s comments illustrated “that there is no clear understanding of what police are supposed to do” when asked to respond to “loitering” on city and transit service property.
“(Officers) need to have clear guidelines in advance about who gets transported, when (e.g., all the time? Just in winter? Just at a specific temperature?), and to where, and then be given the … resources needed to make sure that can happen.”
“These problems cannot be solved by blaming our members after the fact when they do not set the rules or make the policies,” wrote Elliott.
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Police regularly receive complaints about safety concerns in LRT stations, he added. The Friday before the incident, officers received “direction” from superiors “to assist the city dealing with (transient people) in the LRT stations,” he wrote. He said the meeting included “representatives from the mayor’s office/city manager and Edmonton Transit Services.”
A spokesperson said the mayor’s office was not aware of such a meeting having taken place. “No one in our office asked EPS a few days prior to the incident to assist in dealing with the LRT stations,” Nathalie Batres said in email, adding the mayor’s office is not involved in the day-to-day running of LRT stations.
Deputy city manager Rob Smyth said in a statement that a procedure is being developed with EPS “that outlines our approach to ensuring the safety of all Edmontonians who access transit stations.”
“The deployment of staff on the night in question was initiated at the operational level between city peace officers and EPS,” he said. “Senior city staff from the city manager’s (office) or at my deputy city manager level did not attend a meeting to specifically direct the work of front line officers.”
He added: “The city’s front line staff did request assistance from EPS to provide additional presence in the LRT system.”
