LA Metro’s board of directors voted on Thursday, June 22 to pursue the creation of an in-house transit police department that would replace contracts with its current law enforcement agencies.
Board members emphasized the vote does not set in concrete a 180-degree change in law enforcement tactics and the personnel who patrol L.A. County’s system of buses, subways and light-rail lines. But it does reflect the board’s intention to move ahead by adding specifics to the concept.
“This is a very logical, modest step forward to what an in-house transit security department would look like,” said Glendale City Council member and Metro board chairman Ara Najarian. “By no means is this a fait accompli.”
By an 11-0-1 vote, with Fourth District Supervisor Janice Hahn abstaining, the board directed CEO Stephanie Wiggins to draw up a full-fledged plan for implementing a Metro Police Department with its own officers, investigators and special operations teams.
“We are authorizing you (Wiggins) to come up with a plan (for a transit police department) and then come back to this board,” said Third District Supervisor and Metro board member Lindsey Horvath, who represents the San Fernando Valley and the Westside.
The plan will come before the board in January, when it would vote on whether to approve a Metro transit police department, Wiggins said. An interim progress report on recruiting and negotiations for mutual aid agreements with existing police, sheriffs and fire departments will come before the board in November.
“This is a big step. We have an obligation to flesh it out and see what it will look like. This is not by any means a done deal,” said Fifth District Supervisor and Metro board member Kathryn Barger.
If approved in 2024, it would put an end to contracted patrols from the Los Angeles Police Department, Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department and the Long Beach Police Department. The first two departments have been enforcing the law on trains,…
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