SEPTA begins beefing up police presence on subways, trains
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- SEPTA began beefing up police presence on its subways Monday, both with armed officers and unarmed outreach teams. Ridership is only 55% of what it was pre-pandemic. SEPTA says it needs to rethink safety and cleanliness.
"What we implemented today is a new detail focusing on trains," SEPTA Transit Police Sgt. Brian Schwenger said.
The new detail includes having an increase of SEPTA police officers riding subway trains along with more unarmed outreach teams -- those wearing the yellow vests -- all to improve conditions on SEPTA.
"Yeah, I see a lot more of them," one rider said. "I feel like they're doing their job."
The job of an outreach member is to call SEPTA police if they see an issue.
"So they don't have to smell the cigarette smoke or if they see anybody shooting up on the El," an ambassador said.
"We're heavily investing in getting our ridership back," Acting Police Chief Chuck Lawson said.
SEPTA's acting police chief says safety is top of mind after violent crime has been on the rise.
Data obtained by CBS News Philadelphia shows there were 111 aggravated assaults on SEPTA last year, more than twice as many from 2019.
Robberies have also increased every year since 2019, reaching more than 220 last year.
"Access to guns in this city is a tremendous issue for us," Lawson said.
When asked what he would say to customers who don't feel safe riding SEPTA, Lawson said, "I understand. I hear you, number one. You're going to see a lot more cops out there."