LA City Council seeks improved safety for Metro riders and staff
Amid recent incidents of violence within the Metro system, the Los Angeles City Council on Friday joined the agency's efforts to make the transit system safer.
The council is asking the Los Angeles Police Department and Metro officials for 2017 to 2024 statistics on the agency's trains, buses, platforms and at stations and for a demographic breakdown of all victims.
"This is borne out of, for me, just an immense amount of frustration about the safety concerns that continue to go unresolved and addressed," Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez said.
Metro has responded to the surge of attacks and incidents, by approving the installation of plexiglass barriers for about 2,000 buses. The barriers are expected to be installed by the end of 2024, it's an expedited order from the previous three-year timeline.
Metro's Board of Directors also recently approved a motion introduced by member and L.A. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger.
The motion called for staff to secure station gate entrances and exits, analyze data on violent crimes occurring on the system, and speed up pilot solutions at some of the most "challenging" stations.
Among other measures, the Board of Directors called for increasing security cameras, implementing facial recognition technology and using other technology.
The agency may also look into ways of banning problematic individuals from Metro altogether.
"There is nothing more important to us than keeping Metro customers and employees safe" Metro said in a statement. "The challenges we – and the cities across our counties - face require a mix of law enforcement, security, and care-based strategies. We look forward to sharing with the City Council what we are doing, and what they can do to help."
In April alone, two Metro bus drivers were attacked, one of them was stabbed. Another April incident led to the death of 67-year-old woman who had boarded a Metro train in North Hollywood. She was stabbed and killed in an apparently unprovoked attack.
Recent incidents also involved two passengers whose argument turned into a fight that led to one of them stabbing the other.