The recent attack on a teenage girl at a Vancouver SkyTrain station confirms the need for more safety measures at transit stations, NDP MLA Adrian Dix said yesterday.
“There … needs to be a live security person at every station,” said Dix. “Only that will deter attacks and ensure people in trouble get the assistance they need quickly.”
On April 29, Sheshleen Datt was beaten and robbed outside Nanaimo SkyTrain station. Her attackers were caught by police but released without being charged because of a lack of evidence.
Families Against Crime and Trauma executive director Sandra Martins-Toner, whose son Matthew was beaten to death outside Surrey Central SkyTrain station in 2005, said TransLink hasn’t kept its promise to her family to implement 24-hour security at stations.
TransLink spokesperson Drew Snider said TransLink is continually reviewing its security measures.
But he said commuters can do a lot to reduce the threat themselves, such as abstaining from talking on cellphones or using IPods around stations.
