Are you man or lady? It's like all places in Canada, if you see a group of thugs... walk the other way so you don't get mugged. If it's a solo sketchy person, do a friendly nod. Most will just ignore you. Seems like the sketchy people are opportunistic so acknowledging them seems to disarm them. Only exception is scary native women. Most are just fine, I'm talking about the real crazy ones... Never make eye contact, never turn your back on them, the more drunk the more dangerous.they will yell at you and you gotta get outta there. In a city like edmonton you gotta be worried more about the coyotes taking over the city.