Following a surge in crimes within the Los Angeles Metro system in the past five months, the Metro Board passed Thursday safety motions that aim to keep transit riders safe.
The board voted unanimously to approve a motion introduced by Mayor Karen Bass and Board of Directors chair, and a second motion introduced by LA County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, a member of the board.
Under Bass' measure, more public safety personnel, including law enforcement officers, transit security guards and ambassadors, will be on buses and trains.
“In March, there were nearly a million weekday riders, but the recent crime threatens to derail this progress if we cannot ensure the safety of those who want and need to use the bus and rail system,'' Bass said. “We have to act to protect that progress by keeping riders safe.''
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Metro staff will also take steps to establish 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.
Horvath said during the hearing that the Metro is partnering with law enforcement agencies to provide a total of 260 officers to patrol the transit system everyday.
Another motion passed by the Board Thursday, proposed by Horvath, will bring representatives from the LAPD and LA County Sheriff’s Department as well as Long Beach Police to the next Board meeting in June to discuss safety strategies in an effort to clarify how their partnership worked to provide security on Metro buses and trains.
Inglewood Mayor and Metro Director James Butts while agreeing with his colleagues also criticized the agency's failure to act sooner, much sooner, to address safety concerns on the system.
“We need to make sure that the only people that get on buses or trains are people that have paid the fair, period,'' Butts said. “We need to have access barriers at the gate as [Metro Director Kathryn Barger] has said on many occasions.''
He also urged the agency to implement facial recognition technology to add to their surveillance.
“This is something that I've been talking about for nine years, but what it takes is all these (tragedies) that happen in a short period of time,'' Butts added. “The amount of crimes that occur are minimal, but because it's Metro, everyone of them will be reported. It will shape public perception.”
