'Everybody is afraid': Business owner welcomes sheriffs to Chinatown but says feeling safe will take time

It's been about two weeks since a dozen Alberta Sheriffs hit the streets of Chinatown.

Not much has changed, said the owner of one business, but he thanked the province for trying and has hope for the future.

"Everybody is afraid. And we lost half the businesses in the last couple of years. That's how the community feels right now," said Tony Hai, who has worked in the area for 34 years.

Hai is owner of Albert's Autobody on the corner of 106 Avenue and 98 Street.

Last May, his employee Hung Trang, 64, was attacked at work. He died in hospital.

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On Thursday, Hai was visited in his shop by Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Services Mike Ellis.

"I haven't noticed much difference when it comes to all these sheriffs supposedly coming around. Maybe I will see them eventually," Hai said.

He believes years of rising crime and social disorder will not be solved quickly.

But he's grateful that Ellis is working on solutions, including the 15-week pilot program that pairs sheriffs with Edmonton Police Service officers.

"Give us time to calm things down first of all," Hai said.

"Because right now our first priority are (sic) the safety of this community. As long as we can have this under control then we can try to market our area to attract more people to come down."

 Tony Hai, owner of Albert's Autobody in Edmonton's Chinatown, speaks to reporters on March 2, 2023. (Matt Marshall/CTV News Edmonton) 

'THEY'RE HAPPY TO SEE US'

One of the sheriffs walking a new beat is Sgt. Anthony Burgess. He usually does highway patrol based out of Leduc.

"We're going through the LRT stations, through the malls, we're going to be interacting with our vulnerable people that are on the streets," Burgess said before a walk along with reporters.

"So far those interactions have been very positive and they're happy to see us. And we're there to assist them in any manner we can to make the streets a lot safer."

Burgess and his colleagues carry naloxone and have helped increase patrols in the area to 20 hours a day and seven days a week.

Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Services Mike Ellis speaks to reporters in Edmonton on March 2, 2023 (Matt Marshall/CTV News Edmonton)

'SO FAR IT HAS BEEN SUCCESSFUL'

The sheriffs are now part of the Healthy Streets Operations Centre. Their redeployment was just the first move by the Edmonton Public Safety and Community Response Task Force, Ellis said. 

"The feedback that I've been getting from members of the public and certainly from EPS is that so far it has been successful. They are soon to be providing me some statistics on that, which is great," Ellis said, adding more task force initiatives will be announced soon.

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An EPS inspector also had a positive view of the sheriffs joining her officers.

"What we've seen is a huge increase in engagement with our community. So we are able to provide a law-enforcement presence, between the sheriffs and EPS, and really engage in stakeholder development and work with the vulnerable community," Insp. Angela Kemp said.

The sheriffs have been deployed until June and a similar program is now running in Calgary as well.

With files from CTV News Edmonton's Jessica Robb