Metro sees decrease in crime rates throughout transit system, agency says
LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority's annual "State of the Agency" event shared statistics that show violent crimes on its system of trains and buses are trending downward.
"Year over year, assaults are down by more than 66 percent," said Stephanie Wiggins, Metro's CEO in Union Station's lobby Wednesday afternoon.
Wiggins highlighted new safety measures that have been put in place, including the installation of taller fare gates to keep non-payers out, protecting its bus drivers with safety barriers in all Metro buses, and expanding its weapons detection program that uses scanners to check passengers for knives and guns.
"I think the good news is, everything is trending in the right direction," said Robert Gummer, the Deputy Chief of Metro System Security & Law Enforcement. "Compared to May of last year, violent crime has dropped by over 28%."
Metro is also in the process of building its own Transit Community Public Safety Department, with more uniformed safety personnel due to hit its routes in the next couple years.
All those moves seem to be paying off.
Metro's latest crime statistics show an 8-percent drop in violent crimes in it's system from 2023 to last year.
But the 2024 violent crime number is still dramatically higher than those in 2020 through 2022.
The pandemic may have skewed those statistics but Metro officials say they are determined to continue reducing its crime numbers.
"The enhanced enforcement has really been a big reason why we're seeing a lot of our violent crime and our issues go down on our system," said Gummer.
Meanwhile, more people are using Metro. The agency says ridership on its trains and buses is up more than 50% percent over the last four years, though those numbers may also be skewed by the pandemic.
