Councillors consider options to improve transit safety after series of LRT incidents

The day after police released security video of a violent brawl in the Marlborough LRT station, councillors considered changes to the way they're accessed.

A group of councillors say they support closing some stations, requiring payment to access indoor waiting areas.

"If we had a closed system in some of these stations that can actually accommodate it – where you have limited points of entry – we could eliminate these sorts of social behaviours occurring," says Coun. Andre Chabot.

The brawl happened on Nov. 17 around 2:15 p.m., when a group of men are seen throwing punches, then a pipe and a knife are taken out before a man fires a flare gun into the hood of another.

A 37-year-old man has been arrested in connection.

Police are still searching for three others.

Chabot says a closed transit system would reduce loitering and keep stations for people actually using transit actively.

On Monday, Protective Services asked for money to hire nine additional peace officers to help patrol transit.

But Coun. Courtney Walcott says more officers or tighter security just push the underlying problem to a different place.

"We're often concerned with policing our way out of it, enforcing our way out of it, but the reality is those people are there because those systems have failed, too," Walcott says.

"We can make this mistake today to just say we're going to require more security, but that's not going to stop people from needing support."

Calgary police also say that while their officers are involved in the criminal investigations, the real causes are social and fall to other organizations.