Mayor Karen Bass said she ordered an immediate surge in law enforcement on Metro trains and buses following a recent spike in attacks on Los Angeles' transit system.
During a Thursday morning news conference with Metro leaders, Bass commented on the plan to improve safety on the system and a follow-up motion that will be introduced next week to the Metro Board of Directors to address the violence.
The move follows a series of violent crimes connected to the system in recent weeks, including the fatal stabbing of a woman on a B Line train in the Studio City area last month and three of attacks this week that left three people stabbed and another injured during a robbery.
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"The spike in violent crime… has been absolutely unacceptable," Bass said Thursday.
Bass said her office directed an immediate surge in law enforcement on trains and buses and at stations to address the spike. That request was made Wednesday, she said.
"We did not want to wait for a meeting next week," Bass said. "We wanted to act immediately. We understand out No. 1 job is for Angelenos across LA County to feel safe."
The motion to be introduced next week will increase daily planned deployment of public safety personnel on Metro, meaning a presence on buses and trains. The motion also will establish a unified command system to coordinate efforts aimed at improving safety, Bass said.
The motion will also call for an assurance that cell service is available and active at all underground Metro stations to ensure passengers can quickly contact law enforcement.
More details about the motion were not immediately available.
In a significant shift, Bass publicly acknowledged Wednesday that she did not think the city’s Metro system is safe. Just last month, she touted LA’s public transit system declaring “the Metro is safe” while celebrating an increase in ridership.
When asked Wednesday whether she still thought riding Metro was safe, she responded she did “not feel the same way.”
Her admission came amid escalating fears among commuters following a string of violent incidents, including three within 48 hours.
Early Thursday, two people were taken into custody for climbing on top of a metro train in downtown Los Angeles. Officers responded to the Historic Broadway Station in the 200 block of South Broadway about 4 a.m. after receiving a report from security.
A teenager was stabbed Monday on a Metro bus in Glendale. Later that day, a woman was attacked inside an elevator at a Metro station in South Los Angeles.
On Tuesday, a person was robbed and assaulted aboard a Metro bus in the Encino area. That attack occurred shortly after 2 p.m. on a bus near Ventura Boulevard and Balboa Avenue. Metro officials said a man was robbed of a cell phone and was hit in the chest.
"As chair of the Metro (board), I am right now working with my colleagues -- the other members of the board of directors -- on a motion that we'll put forward at the next meeting, which is next week, that will be calling for an increase of patrols, increased visibility, on the buses and the trains," Bass said Wednesday.
Supervisor Lindsey Horvath Horvath, chair of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and member of the Metro Board of Directors, introduced a motion Wednesday to address the spike in violence on buses and trains. The motion will be heard by the full Metro Board when it takes up the budget at its meeting on May 23.
"We are looking at a 10% increase in the cost of Metro's law enforcement contracts next year without any increase in presence," Horvath said in a prepared statement. "This is unacceptable. We need safety personnel on every Metro bus and rail line to keep our riders safe. The motion I introduced calls for a cost analysis of all public safety entities that patrol the system to inform what visible presence is not only necessary, but most effective to make our system safer for everyone."
She invited representatives from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, Los Angeles Police Department and Long Beach Police Department to attend the Metro Board meeting in June.
LA County Supervisor Kathryn Barger also said she was working with the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department as well as Long Beach Police on a plan for increased enforcement. The agencies also confirmed their involvement.
Metro officials have grappled in recent years over the best way to police the transit system. The agency has generally partnered with the Los Angeles Police Department, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and Long Beach Police Department to police the system.
Metro also opted to vastly expand its use of "ambassadors," who are essentially customer service representatives positioned across the transit system to provide support and information to riders and a resource for people to report maintenance or safety issues. According to Metro's own website, however, the ambassadors "are not security officers and do not replace existing security personnel or law enforcement. Rather, they are an added workforce that collaborates with other Metro departments in order to maintain public safety and help make the system feel safer for our riders."
