METRO says it is putting more officers in areas with higher crime, and the agency reports a decline in assaults. But some riders say they still have concerns about their safety.
For millions of METRO riders, a trip is routine: stopping, starting and reaching their destination without incident. But one ride can leave a lasting impact.
A woman who asked not to be identified said she was sexually harassed by a passenger while riding a bus downtown on her way to work.
“It was a very traumatic experience for me,” she said. “No, it’s not safe at all.”
She said she has seen METRO officers on her route only once and wants to see them more often — particularly on the bus.
METRO Police Chief Ban Tien said staffing has not grown much, despite active recruiting efforts.
While the department works to hire more officers, Tien said it is deploying available resources to areas with higher crime. He said METRO has added motorcycle officers to hotspots and has executive command staff ride routes to hear from bus operators and passengers.
Tien said assaults on the Red Line have dropped 38% since the increased-presence initiative began. On buses, he said, assaults fell about 10% in the first two months of implementation.
“When you ride on a regular basis like me, I hear feedback from the bus operators, from the patrons,” Tien said. “They tell me you may have some problems at certain locations, then I increase resources.”
Tien said the department does not have enough officers to staff every bus shelter. He said millions of trips take place, and most are uneventful, but acknowledged that changing public perceptions about safety remains a challenge.
“Sometimes it’s really not the crime that is a concern, it’s the fear of crime itself. The reality is, I don’t have enough resources to staff every single bus shelter out there, but I can start with our media partners and let them know we have millions of riders a year,” Tien said.
“We average around 6 to 7 millions of riders a month. Out of millions and millions of rides, we only have last year reported out of our database 500+ major crimes when it comes to assault, death, loss of property you can go on and on. So just be mindful, millions and millions of riders hundreds of crimes most, if not over 90% or crimes are uneventful. The message needs to get out there and people need to understand that.”
Tien said METRO’s mobile command presence has already helped stop a potential knife attack downtown.
METRO had not responded to a request for comment about the woman’s reported harassment incident.
