Oh my God. A shooting at a TTC station. That shatters my sense of security in Toronto the good.

I'm in Toronto every Tuesday-Wednesday and I take the TTC to and from work both those days. In fact, I saw several TTC constables together at Union Station when I was there this Tuesday evening.

Actually, IMO, Edmonton had one of the most spectacularly savage public crimes ever -- a meat cleaver attack in West Edmonton Mall on Boxing Day.

And when I lived in Regina, it was the per-capita murder capital of Canada! Woohoo! :)

I take the TTC daily. I used to work nights, riding the tube during the "witching hour," if I can call it that. I've never seen a special constable just patrolling the subway at that time.

Or any other time. I can't find anyone who says so.

They'll show up after a crime. I've also seen them checking transit passes at mid-day on the Queen street car.

In this particular case, if you've got psychopathic gun-toting thugs, the occasional presence of a transit cop might not make a difference. If you remember the Caribana shooting at Yonge-Dundas Sq., there were security cameras and cops around, and some gangsta still blew somebody away.

But again, that level of violence in the TTC is rare. I would note the authorities are being reticent to put a specific number on how many lesser crimes are committed on TTC.

I hope the story did leave the point that on balance, the TTC is pretty safe.

On the ride in tonight, it seemed like a routine night on the Bloor-Danforth line.