Will establish a ‘unified command’
Responding to recent violent attacks tied to the region’s transit system, Los Angeles Mayor and Metro Board of Directors Chair Karen Bass has ordered an “immediate surge” in public safety personnel on buses and trains to increase their visibility and deter crime.
“The spike in violent crime on Metro that we have recently seen against operators and riders has been absolutely unacceptable,” Bass said during a late-morning news conference on May 16. “And I know that all of my colleagues here today would agree.
“Yesterday, as chair of the board of Metro, I directed an immediate surge of law enforcement personnel on Metro buses and rail cars and stations,” she said. “Today, we are following that action with a motion to work to make Angelenos, our riders and our operators feel safe on the system.”
Bass said that motion, which was expected to go before the Board of Directors this week, will “increase the daily planned deployment of public safety personnel on Metro and direct public safety personnel to be physically present on buses and trains and proactively patrol areas as well.”
The motion will also call for establishment of a “unified command” of the various law enforcement agencies who police the system–including Metro security, the Los Angeles Police Department, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and Long Beach Police Department.
It will also require that “cellular service is enabled and working in all underground Metro rail stations, on the platforms and during transit throughout the rail system,” Bass said. “The importance of this is so passengers, if they need to, get help immediately.”
The moves follow a spate of violent crimes connected to the system in recent weeks, including the fatal stabbing of a woman on a B Line train in the Studio City area last month and a trio of attacks this week that left three people stabbed and another struck in the chest during a robbery.
Concerns about safety on the Metro system have escalated in response to the highly publicized crimes, despite statistics showing an overall drop in crime tied to buses and trains over the past year.
Metro officials have wrestled in recent years over the best way to police the transit system. Three years ago–in the post-George Floyd era of calls for reductions in law enforcement spending–Metro opted to vastly expand its use of “ambassadors,” who are essentially customer service representatives positioned across the transit system to provide support and information to riders and a resource for people to report maintenance or safety issues.
County Supervisor Janice Hahn, vice-chair of the Metro Board, said Thursday alongside Bass that law enforcement visibility has to be increased to make people feel safe on the system.
“We have the responsibility to every single one of our riders and our bus operators and our train operators to make the Metro safe, and part of the solution, I believe, has to be increasing law enforcement visibility and presence on our system,” she said.
