Metro - File #: 2024-0827

• File #: 2024-0827
• Type: Informational Report
• Status: Agenda Ready
• File created: 9/5/2024
• In control: Operations, Safety, and Customer Experience Committee
• On agenda: 10/24/2024
• Title: RECEIVE AND FILE the Public Safety Report.
• Sponsors: Board of Directors - Regular Board Meeting
• Indexes: Informational Report, Research, Safety

Meeting_Body

OPERATIONS, SAFETY, AND CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE COMMITTEE

OCTOBER 24, 2024

Subject

SUBJECT:                     MONTHLY UPDATE ON PUBLIC SAFETY

Action

ACTION:                     RECEIVE AND FILE

Heading

RECOMMENDATION

Title

RECEIVE AND FILE the Public Safety Report.

Issue
ISSUE

Metro is committed to providing outstanding trip experiences for all transportation system users. In furtherance of the Vision 2028 Plan, Metro implemented a multi-faceted plan to improve safety and safety perceptions for riders and employees. The following summarizes current initiatives to accomplish this objective and recent public safety trends.

Background

BACKGROUND

Within Metro’s Public Safety Mission statement, the agency recognizes that each individual is entitled to a safe, dignified, and human experience. In March 2023, the Board adopted a revised Code of Conduct, a Bias-Free Policing Policy, and a Public Safety Analytics Policy to avert racial profiling and bias in the deployment of Metro security and law enforcement services. Furthermore, since July 2023, Metro has been using a comprehensive deployment model to utilize all resources from the public safety ecosystem.

These actions align with numerous initiatives to improve safety and the perception of safety on the system, including the increased, strategic, and layered deployment of personnel (comprised of customer-centered ambassadors and community intervention specialists, as well as homeless outreach staff, transit security, private security, and law enforcement officers) and the piloting of safety and security interventions to address specific concerns (e.g., drug use and crime) on the system.

Discussion
DISCUSSION

System Security & Law Enforcement (SSLE) is responsible for overseeing safety initiatives on the Metro system, working in coordination with other departments, including Operations and Customer Experience. SSLE forms the foundation of Metro’s comprehensive approach to safety and security, focused specifically on protecting our customers and employees by preventing and addressing crime on our system, enforcing Metro’s Code of Conduct, ensuring the safety of our facilities, directing the deployment of law enforcement and private security presence throughout the system, and proactively identifying and addressing areas of possible concern.

The following is a snapshot of activities, performance, and outcome-related data for August, the most recent month for which systemwide law enforcement data is available.

OVERVIEW

Ridership continued to steadily increase, up 7.73% from August 2023 (27,066,466 vs. 25,124,083), marking the 21^st consecutive month of year-over-year ridership growth. Per 1 million boardings, Crimes Against Persons (violent crimes) have decreased compared to the previous month (7.43 vs. 7.54).

The surge of public safety personnel continued its third full month, successfully counteracting the typical summer peaks of violent crime. The uptick in crimes from July to August was 4.7% in 2024 compared to 22.8% in 2023. Removing trespassers and focusing on narcotics, weapons, and outstanding warrants drove the effort that resulted in year-over-year reductions in August for Crimes Against Persons.

In late August, staff began testing different weapons detection systems with some notable preliminary findings. The Station Experience unit continues to make progress with improving Metro stations through various upgrades and programs. Metro also continued its progress on becoming the first transit agency in the U.S. to install new fully-enclosed bus barriers on its entire fleet, with 32.4% of buses retrofitted as of August 28.

The multi-layered safety partners conduct weekly report-outs and utilize data from various internal and external sources (i.e., Call Center, Transit Watch app, crime reports, etc.) to ensure these strategies are maintained, adjusted, or newly incorporated to mitigate crime spikes or arising trends on the system.

ACTIVITIES AND INITIATIVES

Weapons Detection Pilots Update

Metro began cost-free pilots with multiple vendors in late August that will go on through November 2024. The piloted technologies can be broadly categorized as video analytics-based brandished weapon detection and concealed weapon screening.  A summary of the activity and preliminary findings are outlined in Attachment J.

Station Experience Updates

Azusa End-Of-Line Parking Sets Post-Pandemic Record Usage

A strong return of paid parking utilization at APU/Citrus College A Line Station, following several recently completed Parking Lot User Safety (PLUS) program improvements, including brighter lighting, open door elevators, ambient sound device, throne restroom and ongoing partnership with City of Azusa and LASD, that have restored overall safety and cleanliness.

Public Safety Surge Update

In May 2024, the Board directed staff to surge the daily planned deployment of public safety personnel to be physically present on buses and trains and at stations (Motion 31; Attachment B). These efforts, along with Metro initiatives such as the Tap to Exit Pilot, demonstrate the holistic approach to safety that will continue into the fall months.

Recap of the Summer Surge

As mentioned in last month’s update, violent crime typically rises in the summer months. This summer, it decreased from May to June and rose modestly in July and August. Removing trespassers and focusing on narcotics, weapons, and outstanding warrants drove the effort that resulted in year-over-year reductions in August for Crimes Against Persons (see Systemwide Crime Stats below for details).Surge-specific Crimes Against Society (largely Trespassing) rose markedly in August.

Discussions with law enforcement personnel highlighted the following key successes of the Surge:

•                     Increasing daily deployment by 20% allowed uniformed personnel to supplement fixed-post teams with roving teams that served dual functions.

o                     Supplementary teams rode trains and buses and made visible contact with customers.

o                     Officers with flexible assignments were able to support fixed-post deployments when booking a suspect or when an officer otherwise needed to leave or rotate out. This allowed for continuous coverage even as crime reports and arrests increased.

•                     More effective utilization of law enforcement resources, including foot patrols, engagement at turnstiles, TAP card checks, and other methods of visible presence helped deter crime and expose Code of Conduct issues, resulting in more citations and arrests for trespassing, narcotics, and weapons and an overall safer system.

The following is a snapshot of the Public Safety Surge from May 20 to September 1 by the numbers.

After analyzing fifteen weeks of surge data, staff observed the following:

•                     There were 1,956 crimes reported by surge law enforcement personnel and 2,716 surge-related arrests between May 20, 2024, and September 1, 2024.

•                     Increase in reported trespassing incidents, which rose 41% (640 vs. 453) in August, accounted for much of the significantly higher number of crimes reported.

•                     The number of assaults dropped significantly in August compared to July (1 vs. 9).

•                     There was a 31% increase in arrests in August compared to July, due to increases in arrests related to trespassing (640 vs. 430) and warrants (144 vs. 105).

•                     Arrests related to weapons increased in August compared to July (4 vs. 5).

Ancillary Areas Motion 30 Response - Quarterly Update

The following is a quarterly update outlining progress on securing and cleaning ancillary areas as required by Motion 30 (Attachment C) by Directors Bass, Horvath, Krekorian, Najarian, Solis, and Hahn.

Maintenance

•                     Custodial Services continue to clean all ancillary areas along the B, D, E, and K lines weekly.

•                     Metro frontline employees report and a third-party Industrial Hygienist who conducted an audit last month confirmed that the ancillary areas are consistently cleaner. Additional details regarding the audit, which Metro’s Corporate Safety department initiated, will be presented next month.

•                     Before these targeted efforts, special cleanup requests were received daily from at least 12 of the 16 underground stations on the B and D Lines. These requests have now decreased to once a week at three of the 16 stations. This was a direct result of the increased frequency of corridor inspections by Contract Security officers, maintaining an increased frequency of station corridor cleaning, new cleaning products, updated Standard Operating Procedures for chemical and staff safety, and equipment that protects staff from potential exposure to untreated corridors.

Security

•                     As of August 31, 2024, 87 Contract Security officers support keeping the ancillary areas clean by providing security escorts to custodians.

•                     Contract Security is deployed 24/7 at all 24 subway stations on the B, D, E, and K lines. They inspect every ancillary area nine times daily and arrest any trespassers they encounter.

•                     Contract Security efforts resulted in three trespassing arrests in ancillary areas in the month of August.

•                     Contract Security reports damage and submits repair and clean-up requests that occur between the regularly scheduled clean-up times via the Metro Transit Watch app.  

Alarms

•                     As reported previously, all audible alarms at the B/D Line ancillary doors are programmed to activate for up to two hours if the door was entered or exited without first tapping a valid employee ID card on the adjacent badge reader.

•                     Contract Security continued to respond to ancillary door alarms set off by intruders, with an average response time of six minutes. The alarms were reset by Contract Security officers at the station only via the badge readers, and any observed activities were reported to the Security Operations Center.

SYSTEMWIDE CRIME STATS

Crimes Against Persons increased by 4.7% in August 2024 compared to July 2024 (201 vs. 192). By mode, Crimes Against Persons on the rail system increased by 17.8% (126 vs. 107), mainly due to increases in aggravated assaults (31 vs. 23), batteries (66 vs. 56), and sex offenses (9 vs. 2). In comparison, Crimes Against Persons on the bus system decreased in August compared to July by 11.8% (75 vs. 85). This was due to decreases in aggravated assaults (17 vs. 22), batteries (46 vs. 50), and sex offenses (1 vs 6). In contrast, there was an increase in robberies (11 vs. 7).

Although there was a slight increase in Crimes Against Persons (violent crimes) from July to August, on a monthly average Crimes Against Persons from January to August 2024 decreased 6.5% from the same period in 2023. From January to August 2023, Crimes Against Persons averaged 186 per month, while in 2024, they averaged 173 per month. When the number of boardings is considered, Crimes Against Persons in 2024 have decreased by 14.5% compared to 2023 (6.78 vs 7.93 Crimes Against Persons per 1 million boardings).  Crimes Against Property systemwide increased by 13.3% when comparing August 2024 to July 2024 (68 vs. 60). On the rail system, these crimes increased by 28.6% (45 vs. 35), mainly due to an increase in thefts (34 vs. 20). Crimes Against Property on the bus system saw an 8.0% decrease (23 vs. 25), primarily driven by a decrease in vandalism (10 vs. 13).

Crimes Against Society systemwide increased by 30.6% in August compared to July (969 vs. 742). By mode, the rail system experienced increases in trespassing (767 vs. 590), narcotics (119 vs. 86), and weapons (25 vs. 22). On the bus system, Crimes Against Society saw an increase, which was a result of increases in narcotics (20 vs. 12) and trespassing (35 vs. 24).  More information can be found in Attachments D, E, F, and G. 

The following chart compares Crimes Against Persons, Property, and Society crime data per one million boardings.

In August 2024, Crimes Against Persons per one million boardings decreased by 1.5% compared to July 2024 and decreased by 6.2% compared to August 2023. Crimes Against Property per one million boardings increased by 6.6% compared to July 2024 and increased by 31.5% when compared to August 2023. Crimes Against Society per one million boardings increased by 22.9% compared to July 2024 and 856.9% compared to August 2023.

FRONTLINE SAFETY

For the month of August, there were 59 assaults on Metro personnel. August is the first time period that assaults on personnel have been comprehensively gathered. Staff will continue to monitor these assaults every month to look for any patterns that may arise. 

Operator Safety

Spitting and using an object (e.g., hammer, skateboard, beer can) were the top methods of assault on operators in August. Of the 17 assaults, 10 reported a non-retrofitted bus barrier in use, three reported no barrier in use, three occurred outside the barrier, and one did not provide details of bus barrier use. Of the reported assaults, three victims required medical transport. Three assaults occurred on Line 260, two assaults occurred on Lines 4 and 720, and all other assaults occurred on various bus lines scattered throughout Metro’s service area. Seven assaults occurred between 12:00 p.m. and 5:59 p.m., four assaults occurred between 12:00 a.m. and 5:59 a.m., four assaults occurred between 6:00 p.m. and 11:59 p.m., and two assaults occurred between 6:00 a.m. and 11:59 a.m. 

Figures A and B provide context on operator assaults for the month of August compared to prior months and years, respectively. Methods of assaults for the month are illustrated in Figure C. Details of the assaults can be found in Attachment H.

Figure A: Bus/Rail Operator Assaults Six-Month Comparison

Figure B: Bus/Rail Operator Assaults Year-to-Year Comparison

Figure C: Methods of Assault

Installation of Retrofit Barriers

In April 2024, the Board designated emergency procurement authority for the manufacturing and installing of reinforced barriers to better protect bus operators while on duty. Metro’s entire bus fleet is anticipated to be fitted with fully-enclosed barriers by the end of the year.

As of August 28, approximately 32.4%, or 621, of Metro’s fleet of 2,105 buses have been retrofitted with fully-enclosed operator barriers. Since many operator attacks involve spitting (from May to August 2024 48% of operator assaults in the bus involved spitting) or throwing objects, it is expected that operator barriers will lead to a significant decrease in such incidents.

From April 2023 to August 2023, there were 71 operator assaults, while this year, 66 assaults occurred in the comparable period. Overall, the monthly assault average is down slightly (14.2 vs. 13.2). The averages were also compared between these two time periods for the top ten lines experiencing the most assaults (described in the previous section). Data from the most recent time period for these lines also indicates a slight improvement (7.2 vs. 5.2).  However, more data is needed before conclusions regarding retrofit-barrier efficacy can be made. Next, staff will evaluate bus trip-level data to show whether the presence of a barrier during a given bus trip decreases the likelihood that an operator is physically assaulted during that trip.

Bus Safety Teams

Transit Security Bus Safety Teams rotate across the top 10 bus lines with reported incidents of operator assaults and lines with newly reported incidents of operator assaults and other significant security incidents to enforce Metro’s Code of Conduct. In August, an end-of-line operation was conducted during Owl Service at the G Line end-of-line stations to address bus operator concerns about individuals not there for the purpose of transit who are refusing to alight buses at the end of the line. MTS provides the dates and times of upcoming offloading operations to HOME partners, and their participation is dependent on their schedule.

This operation resulted in 108 removals for non-compliance at Chatsworth Station between August 5 and August 16 and 102 removals for non-compliance at North Hollywood Station between August 19 and August 30.

The MTS teams are augmented with law enforcement support. In August, there were 3,384 and 6,369 bus boardings by LAPD officers and LASD deputies, respectively.

In addition to Code of Conduct enforcement, TSOs provide riders with safety tips, such as being aware of their surroundings while using their mobile phones and informing them of the Transit Watch application to report incidents. Several TSOs are bilingual and can assist patrons in Spanish, Korean, and Thai, among other languages. TSOs also engage with bus operators to obtain information regarding safety issues or areas of concern that the Bus Safety Teams can address. Additionally, when possible, TSOs provide operators with verbal tips related to safety and de-escalation tactics to ensure they can respond appropriately to incidents that may threaten their safety.

DEPLOYMENT RESULTS

The following reflects the results of the deployment for August and the effects of preventing and reducing crime on the system.                      

Law Enforcement

LAPD, LASD, and LBPD enforce the penal code on the system, including conducting trespass investigations. The table below represents the law enforcement efforts to enforce the penal code on the system for August.

In August, the three law enforcement agencies made 1,413 arrests and issued 1,585 citations. Law enforcement citations and warnings are not related to fare but are given for trespassing, loitering, and moving violations. Details on the demographics of individuals arrested can be found in Attachment I. 

Law enforcement homeless outreach data has been omitted from this report as staff works to align how homeless outreach data is defined and reported. After defining the standard data sets for Metro homeless outreach reporting are consistent with LA County Department of Health Services (DHS) and Metro’s own Homeless Outreach, further staff research showed the challenges of aligning on a common reporting standard with our law enforcement partners. Staff is continuing to engage with the homeless outreach teams of our law enforcement partners to determine how best to standardize reporting and avoid double-counting cases already reported to Metro.

End of Line

Contract Security (CS) officers offload trains at the end-of-line (EOL) stations. This operation functions to deter patrons from riding the system without valid fare while allowing train cleaning to promote a clean and safe environment. Offloading operations also simultaneously provide security support for Metro employees performing their duties.

As CS officers maintain their efforts at these stations, they establish a consistent process and expectations for Metro riders when the train reaches its last stop. Consequently, staff is observing fewer complaints from both riders and front-line staff. Metro service attendants and schedule checkers have been able to perform their duties with relative ease as the CS officers are present to ensure each train car is empty and step in if staff needs security assistance.

In August, Metro Homeless Outreach efforts targeted the following stations: Westlake/MacArthur Park, Willowbrook/Rosa Parks, and Lake. The table below reflects these efforts.

Metro Homeless Outreach has fixed posts at key EOL stations within the comprehensive planned deployment. Staff currently support six EOL stations (Union Station, Downtown Santa Monica, Downtown Long Beach, Atlantic, North Hollywood, and APU/Citrus). The efforts at EOL account for 2,261 (74%) of 3,053 total engagements during the month of August. The table below reflects the outreach efforts at EOL stations.

Transit Security

The primary role of Metro Transit Security (MTS) in the Comprehensive Planned Deployment is Code of Conduct enforcement. In August, MTS officers issued 534 citations and 287 written warnings for Code of Conduct violations. Of those, 794 (96.7%) were due to individuals failing to provide proof of fare. A breakdown of the remaining citations and warnings is shown in the table below. This month's increase in citations and warnings can be attributed to the TAP-to-Exit program at the North Hollywood Station where Transit Security Officers issued citations to those unable to provide proof of valid fare. As such, the citations and warnings in August are noticeably higher than the 12-month average, shown in the table below. The numbers reflect MTS's continued efforts to deter those attempting to access the system for non-transit purposes in violation of the Code of Conduct.

Transit Security Fare Compliance Teams are assigned to conduct fare compliance at station turnstiles, mezzanines, and platforms. The table below provides a recap of August's monthly activity.

Transit Security Train Safety Teams provide a uniformed presence and enforce fare and Code of Conduct aboard trains. The table below provides a recap of August's monthly activity.

Metro Ambassadors

Metro Ambassadors provide support to riders, connecting riders to resources, and reporting safety incidents or maintenance needs, thereby helping to improve the perception of safety. Metro Ambassadors were deployed on all rail lines, G Line, J Line, and bus lines 210, 40, and 720, and provided crowd control and wayfinding support for special events. Since May 25, 2024, Metro has been deploying additional Ambassadors during peak times across two 4-hour shifts to increase visibility at key locations and provide more support for riders. As part of the surge, Metro continues to aim to deploy 52 additional Ambassadors daily.  

For the month of August 2024, Metro Ambassadors conducted 79,496 customer engagements and reported the following:

•                     1,856 Cleanliness Issues, a 3.08% decrease from last month.

•                     1,587 Graffiti Incidents, a 10.2% increase from last month.

•                     363 Elevator and Escalator Problems, a 19.1% decrease from last month.

•                     345 Safety Issues, a 9.92% decrease from last month.

•                     14 lives were saved through the timely administration of Narcan, compared to 5 saved in July.

Narcan Deployment

MTS, LASD, LAPD, and Metro Ambassadors are equipped with Narcan and administer it as needed to individuals experiencing symptoms of an overdose. LBPD is not required to carry Narcan, per its agency’s policies. Contract Security (InterCon Security and Allied Universal Security) was recently trained to use Narcan. InterCon started carrying Narcan on August 19, while Allied Universal Security began on September 2.

In total, 24 Narcan incidents were reported in August.

PUBLIC FACING DASHBOARD UPDATE

SSLE has completed the buildout of Phase 1 of the dashboard. This initial version of the dashboard shows systemwide crime (on a weekly and monthly basis), calls for service (monthly), and arrest statistics (monthly). Crime data is provided by crime type and line in the monthly version and by crime type and station in the weekly version. Calls for service counts are categorized by urgency level. Arrest counts are provided by gender and race/ethnicity. Its release is contingent on completion of internal reviews  and PSAC. Upon final approval, the dashboard will be provided to the Customer Experience Department and incorporated into the Metro website.

EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT

Emergency Training and Exercises

On August 17, the Emergency Management Department (EMD) conducted the first of three K Line extension safety certification exercises. The full-scale exercise was conducted at the Century Aviation Station using a Shooting Victims/Unattended Packages scenario.

The objectives were to familiarize first responders with the new station and enhance the coordination and communication with local response partners. Law enforcement had the opportunity to take turns being first on the scene and coordinate operations through the Unified Command. There were over 80 participants which included representatives from the following: Los Angeles Police Department Transit Services, Pacific Division, K-9, and Bomb Squad Units; Airport Police and Emergency Management; Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response (VIPR) Team; Transit Ambassadors; Inter-Con Security; California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC); Los Angeles Department of Transportation; and Metro Rail Operations, Maintenance of Way, Divisions 16 and 22 Management and Staff, Facilities Maintenance, Fire Life Safety, Corporate Safety, and EMD.

On August 21, EMD and Fire Life Safety conducted the second of three K Line extension exercises. This tabletop discussion-based exercise used a simulated derailment at the K/C Line tie-in with riders self-evacuating. There were over 40 participants including representatives from the following: Los Angeles Police Department Transit Services and Pacific Divisions; Airport Police & Emergency Management; LA Fire Department; LA County Fire Department; El Segundo Fire and Police Departments; LA Sheriff’s Department Transit Services; California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC); and Metro Rail Operations, Maintenance of Way, Divisions 16 and 22 Management and Staff, Facilities Maintenance, Bus Operations, Fire Life Safety, Corporate Safety, and EMD.

On August 24, EMD conducted the last of three K Line extension exercises. The full-scale exercise was conducted at the UG-1 Tunnel, adjacent to the runway at LAX, and used a Train vs. Trespasser scenario.

The objectives were to familiarize all first responders with this new section of the K Line, increase coordination and communication in Unified Command, and test rescue and recovery from the tunnel. There were over 45 participants, which included representatives from the following: Los Angeles Police Department Transit Services; Airport Police; LA Fire Department; California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC); Los Angeles Department of Transportation; and Metro Rail Operations, Maintenance of Way, Divisions 16 & 22 Management and Staff, Facilities Maintenance, Fire Life Safety, Corporate Safety, and EMD.

CUSTOMER COMMENTS

Using various sources, including Metro social media accounts, the Transit Watch app, and the Call Center, staff assessed the public sentiment of the Metro system. In August, engagements related to safety and security increased by 20.2% (1,104 more posts) compared to July. The most significant increases were seen on social media channels, with posts on Reddit and X increasing the most. Similar to last month, the most discussed topic was related to Metro facilities and infrastructure, which had 3,746 mentions (6.75% fewer than July). When discussing safety and security at specific Metro stations, Union Station is mentioned far more frequently than other stations and experienced the largest increase in mentions between July and August. Users also mentioned Downtown Santa Monica Station across social media and Transit Watch, often mentioning fare evasion, TAP-to-Exit, and drug use in the station. In August, we observed more mentions of security personnel than in July. Metro’s TAP-to-Exit program and general fare enforcement contributed to this increase, both positive and negative. SSLE Data Analytics reported information on the weekly calls with security and maintenance task forces for stakeholder awareness and strategy development. They will continue tracking the monthly data for changes and customer comments. 

Call Center Comments

From July to August, passenger comments on Passenger Conduct decreased by 2.0% from 51 to 50. Examples of some of the most common comments received are riders complaining about individuals smoking on the train, drinking alcoholic beverages, and playing loud music. SSLE Metro Transit Security and Contract Security train riding teams were informed to continue to enforce and provide education on the Metro Code of Conduct.  Customer comments related to Rail General Security Concern and General Security Concern decreased by 14.3% (35 to 30) and increased by 40.0% (10 to 14), respectively. Examples of these types of incidents range from harassment to assault. SSLE will continue highlighting top themes from comments submitted to the Call Center and collaborate with its public safety partners to address them as part of the Comprehensive Planned Deployment. The table below shows call center comments by type and month from March 2024 to August 2024.

Staff reviews all safety- and security-related customer comments regarding trends and patterns to inform possible shifts of uniformed personnel deployments to where ongoing Code of Conduct and crime issues are identified. Moreover, any customer comment referencing criminal activity is forwarded to law enforcement for a follow-up with the customer to investigate the incident and file a crime report.

Transit Watch (TW) App Reports

Transit Watch App reports related to safety and criminal activity for August totaled 3,057, an increase of 6.3% compared to July. The Security Operations Center’s Security Control Specialists (SCS) continue to exceed the FY25 SSLE target response time of 120 seconds, with a response time of 35 seconds for August. By comparison, in FY24, the average response time was 99 seconds, exceeding the fiscal year’s target. This target response time ensures a faster process for determining the proper response and dispatch of resources, improving calls for service response times on the system.

Types of Reported Incidents

Of the incident types reported through the Transit Watch application, property crimes - graffiti reports, fights or disturbances, and property crimes - theft reports increased from July to August. Property crimes - graffiti made up most of the incidents, at 68%.Graffiti incidents reported in August were 2,074 vs. 1,855 in July (an 11.8% increase). Of the 2,074 graffiti incidents captured, Ambassadors reported 77.3% (1,604) of these occurrences, a 37.1% increase compared to 1,170 reported in July. The number of fight or disturbance reports submitted in August was 324 vs. 307 in July (a 5.5% increase), while the number of property crime-theft reports submitted in August was 23, a 76.9% increase versus July (13). 

Transit Watch reports highlighted increased property crime and cleanliness issues along the A, B, C, and E lines. These observations resulted in increased patrols at stations with the highest observations. SSLE also utilized the weekly meetings between members of the Comprehensive Planned Deployment to discuss observed increases in security incidents, which included theft. Staff will continue to explore best practices such as messaging and awareness campaigns, education, and video analytics to address graffiti, theft, and harassment systemwide. Additionally, SSLE will look to identify locations (stations, trains, and buses) and the time of day of harassment reports to determine if any patterns exist and work with multi-layer resources to develop a strategy for visibility to prevent and minimize these types of incidents. 

In August, the top three locations for graffiti incidents were Willowbrook/Rosa Parks Station (69), Hawthorne/Lennox Station (61), and Crenshaw Station (52). The top three locations reporting fight or disturbance incidents were 7th Street/Metro Center Station (35), Westlake/MacArthur Park Station (23), and North Hollywood Station and Union Station (19 each). The top three locations reporting property crimes - theft incidents were Pico Station (4) and the following four stations each reported two incidents: Santa Monica Station, Lakewood Blvd Station, 7th Street/Metro Center Station, and La Mirada Station. 

Equity Platform

EQUITY PLATFORM

Metro continues to take a cross-disciplinary approach to grow ridership, improve the customer experience, and, most importantly, ensure the safety of Metro’s system. The collaboration between SSLE and its partners in the comprehensive public safety model remains strong as they work together strategically to support vulnerable and unhoused riders, respond to customer concerns, and improve cleanliness and security on the system. Each public safety resource is deployed on the system after carefully considering customer comments, crime data, and observations shared by law enforcement partners, contract security, multi-disciplinary outreach teams, and Metro Ambassadors to ensure every resource is used efficiently. Operator safety remains a top priority as the new retrofit barriers continue to be installed on Metro fleets and Bus Safety Teams assist with offloading during Owl Service. Through these safety operations and the comprehensive deployment, Metro is creating a safer environment for employees to perform their duties and riders to enjoy their trip experience.  

Next Steps
NEXT STEPS

SSLE continues to monitor our law enforcement partners, private security, and Transit Security Officer performance, monitor crime stats, and consider information from surveys, customer complaints, and physical security assessments, amongst other sources, to analyze safety-related issues, adjust deployment strategies, and formulate new interventions.

Attachments

ATTACHMENTS

Attachment A - Board Motion 34.1

Attachment B - Board Motion 31

Attachment C - Board Motion 30

Attachment D - Total Crime Summary August 2024

Attachment E - Systemwide Law Enforcement Overview August 2024

Attachment F - MTA Supporting Data August 2024

Attachment G - Sexual Harassment Crimes August 2024

Attachment H - Bus & Rail Operator Assaults August 2024

Attachment I - Arrests by Race & Ethnicity August 2024

Attachment J - Weapons Detection Pilots Updates

Prepared by

Prepared by: Robert Gummer, Deputy Chief, System Security & Law Enforcement

Officer

Vanessa Smith, Executive Officer, Customer Experience

Stephen Tu, Deputy Executive Officer, Operations

Imelda Hernandez, Senior Manager, Transportation Planning

Reviewed By

Reviewed by: Kenneth Hernandez, Interim Chief Safety Officer

Jennifer Vides, Chief Customer Experience Officer

Conan Cheung, Chief Operations Officer