PPOA Executive Director
wquint@ppoa.com
On June 27, the executive board of directors who oversee the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) voted unanimously (10–0) to create its own police agency. The vote came after appearances by Long Beach Police Department Chief Wally Hebeish, LAPD Interim Chief Dominic Choi and LASD Sheriff Robert Luna. The Metro transit system is currently policed under contract arrangements with these three agencies.
The LASD’s Transit Services Bureau (TSB) is comprised of 330 sworn and professional staff members who are specifically trained to provide community safety services to 95 cities and four counties throughout the Metro service area. This includes all buses, trains and Metro property outside of the City of Los Angeles and covers 978 square miles of Metro’s 1,447 square miles of bus service, 90 miles of rail and 60 Metro stations.
Due to the geographical size of the county and locations that TSB already covers, LASD is more than capable of continuing to serve in its existing capacity as well as increasing service as Metro continues to expand its operations.
Three years ago, in the July 2021 Star & Shield magazine, I wrote in my message that in October 2020, the Metro established a 15-member Metro Public Safety Advisory Committee (PSAC). In February 2021, the selection of PSAC members was finalized. I was shocked but not surprised that the “reimagine” criminal justice system progressives who were calling for defunding of the police had zero law enforcement or public safety experience.
Through a motion by the Metro board, the PSAC was given the responsibility to review the current and future Metro law enforcement contracts. The then-five-year, three-agency $768 million system safety security and law enforcement contract was due to expire in June 2022. PPOA requested that the membership contact all five board of supervisors, who were also Metro board members, and communicate their opposition to any defunding of law enforcement at Metro. The Metro board did, in fact, increase funding to address unprecedented challenges, including “evolving safety and security requirements in L.A. County.” In the same vote, however, the board called on Metro to invest at least $40 million in next year’s budget for public safety and homelessness initiatives that are not tied to armed police enforcement.
In March 2023, the Metro board rejected the contract proposals that were presented by the three law enforcement agencies and agreed to explore creating their own police force. The board, however, approved extending the current policing contract with the Long Beach Police Department, LAPD and the LASD for another year, as the contract was set to expire on June 30. There was also a contractual clause allowing the contract to be renewed annually until 2026. In June 2023, an In-House Public Safety Department Feasibility Study final report was presented to the Metro board, addressing the pivotal question: Can Metro establish an in-house public safety department that will result in enhanced police services to Metro riders and employees at a reduced cost?
On October 17, 2023, Sheriff Luna sent a nine-page letter to Metro board Chair Karen Bass to address the feasibility study. The Sheriff pushed back on the new concept, citing concerns over higher startup costs, recruiting qualified officers and decreasing law enforcement services on the Metro system. The Sheriff wrote that the new proposed department detailed in the study would result in a reduction of 85 daily deployed law enforcement officers from current levels, resulting in a 32% drop.
The issues raised in Sheriff Luna’s letter were discussed on November 13 at a meeting of Metro’s PSAC. The committee established ad-hoc committees to address the Sheriff’s concerns, and the Metro CEO would utilize an independent consultant in preparation for a presentation to the Metro board in January 2024.
On June 21, six days before the Metro board of directors’ regular board meeting, CEO Stephanie Wiggins responded in writing to Sheriff Luna, advising that many of his concerns about the feasibility study had been addressed in the “recently completed” Transit Community Public Safety Department (TCPSD) Implementation Plan.
At the June 27 Metro board meeting, Agenda Item #40: Transit Community Public Safety Implementation Plan approved the establishment of an in-house TCPSD over a five-year phased transition, utilizing the enhanced public safety service model. It was unanimously passed. Before the item passed, Sheriff Luna advised the Metro board that Los Angeles expects influxes of visitors with the World Cup in 2026, Super Bowl in 2027 and Summer Olympics in 2028, and stated the obvious by saying, “This is not a time to experiment with new projects; public safety is too critical to do that.”