Could cops on buses prevent assaults?

Trigger warning: this article features some descriptions of sexual harassment. 

On Aug. 2, Aspen Stone visited Dartmouth with her boyfriend and two kids. While riding the 6C bus route, she noticed a man — who appeared to be intoxicated — get on the bus while people boarded at Alderney Landing. He then patted her two-year-old daughter on the head. 

“I told him, ‘Don’t touch my kid.’”

She says the man then stood on one of the steps at the back of the bus, and she noticed he had his hands down his pants, masturbating. 

“I loudly yelled, ‘Get your fucking hand out of your pants, and get the fuck off the bus.’” 

Stone says this got the attention of the bus driver, who opened the doors, and the man ran away. 

When the bus arrived at the Halifax Transit Bridge Terminal, Stone found a police officer and told them what happened. Police later found the man at the terminal and arrested him.

Stone, who was visiting from Moncton, N.B., says her kids were shaken up, and she likely wouldn’t feel comfortable taking transit in Dartmouth again.

“I mean, my daughter obviously didn’t understand what was going on, but my son [6] was terrified.”

SUB: No transit ride-alongs

A Sept. 3 report by Halifax’s board of police commissioners revealed police responded to 427 violent incidents on HRM transit or at transit shelters and terminals between 2022 and 2024. Of the violent incidents, 24 were sexual assaults.

The Amalgamated Transit Union Local 508 represents Halifax Transit staff. Union president Patricio Garcia said having police conduct ride-alongs on buses and patrol transit areas would help prevent assaults. It’s a plan that Don MacLean, Halifax Regional Police chief, has turned down.

“At this time, putting officers on buses is not a shift we are looking to make, but our patrol officers are assigned to every community across HRM and will continue to respond quickly to any issues that may arise,” said Const. Martin Cromwell, the HRP’s public information officer, in an emailed statement to the Dalhousie Gazette.

Garcia says he questions MacLean’s dedication to keeping the people of HRM safe.

“His mandate should be to keep everybody safe, not just a certain selection of people,” he says. “It seems like he’s leaving all the bus passengers, bus operators and the maintenance staff outside of that scope.”

Garcia is set to meet with Bill Moore, the HRM’s commissioner of public safety, where he plans to discuss implementing police ride-alongs on transit.

Alexis Irvine, a third-year psychology student at Saint Mary’s University, has previously advocated for better bus safety measures since she was sexually assaulted while riding transit in July 2023. She says police ride-alongs are a step in the right direction.

While Irvine still takes transit regularly, she says she doesn’t always feel safe. She believes the police should be showing more concern.

“I think it’s a little bit ridiculous. It’s definitely something to show concern over; the statistics clearly show that [assault is] something that happens quite frequently.”