Metro Transit Police Department

The Metro Transit Police Department (MTPD) is the policing agency of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), created by the WMATA Compact on June 4, 1976.[1]

Metro Transit Police Department
Patch of the Metro Transit Police Department
Common nameMetro Transit Police
AbbreviationMTPD
Agency overview
FormedJune 4, 1976
Employees550
Jurisdictional structure
Operations jurisdictionU.S.
Legal jurisdictionDistrict of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia
Governing bodyWashington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority
General nature
Operational structure
Agency executive
  • Ronald Pavlik, Chief of Police
Facilities
Patrol carsChevrolet Tahoes, Chevrolet Suburbans, Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptors
MotorcyclesHarley-Davidson FLs
Website
www.wmata.com/about/transit-police/
Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority Compact

The MTPD is unique in U.S. law enforcement as it is the only U.S. police agency that has police authority in relation to the Metro system in three different jurisdictions: Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia[1] The department has an authorized strength of 490 sworn officers, 170 Special Police Officers, and more than 100 civilian personnel. New sworn officers complete 23 weeks of initial training at the Northern Virginia Criminal Justice Training Academy, followed by 15 weeks of training at the Metro Transit Police Academy, which includes training in Maryland and District of Columbia law, then 10 weeks of field training with a field training officer. Upon completion of training, all sworn officers are fully accredited police officers within the State of Maryland, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Virginia, and have the same police authority as the local police departments located within the boundaries of the Metro service area.

The MTPD is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies.

Patrols
Former patch of the MTPD, used from the 1990s to 2016.
A Chevrolet Tahoe of the MTPD

Uniformed and plainclothes Transit Police officers patrol the Metrorail and Metrobus systems on foot, bicycles, motorcycles, and marked and unmarked police cars. Transit Police detectives provide investigative support. Transit Police officers have jurisdiction and arrest powers throughout the 1,500-square-mile (3,900 km2) Metro service area for crimes and traffic infractions that occur on facilities owned (including bus stops), controlled or operated by the Transit Authority,[2] within 150 feet (46 m) of a Metrobus stop, or that endanger Metro property or patrons. These jurisdictional boundaries do not limit the Metro Transit Police from making arrests in the Transit Zone for violations committed upon, to or against such facilities, while in hot or close pursuit, or to execute traffic citations and criminal process. While on uniformed patrol, Metro Transit Police have the authority to take police action if they observe a serious crime in progress within the Metro service area but outside of the jurisdiction established by the Compact. The Metro Transit Police have concurrent jurisdiction in performance of their duties with the duly constituted law enforcement agencies of the signatories and of the political subdivisions thereof in which any Transit facility of the Authority is located or in which the Authority operates any service.[1]

Transit Police are actively involved in protecting Metro passengers and infrastructure from terrorist threats. After the September 11, 2001 attacks, the 2004 Madrid train bombings, and the July 7, 2005 London subway bombings, and periodically since, members of the Metro Transit Police Special Response Team conduct security sweeps of the rail system while armed with special weapons systems, H&K MP5 submachine guns and supported by explosive ordnance detection K-9 teams. Additionally, the department has a dedicated explosive disposal team.

Officers are currently issued the SIG Sauer P320 Carry 9mm which is used as the standard issue sidearm. Prior to this, officers carried a SIG Sauer P226 or P229, chambered for .40 S&W. Officers are also trained and certified to carry pepperball launchers and shotguns.

Fallen officers

Since the establishment of the Metro Transit Police Department, two officers have been killed in the line of duty.[3] Officer Harry Davis, Jr., was shot and killed in Landover, Maryland, while investigating a stolen vehicle parked at a Metro facility near the Landover station on December 20, 1993.[4] Officer Marlon Morales was shot in the District of Columbia by a fare evasion suspect at the U Street Metro station on June 10, 2001. Morales succumbed to his wounds and died on June 13, 2001.[5] The suspects in both murders were identified, captured, tried, and convicted.[5] Davis' killer was convicted of first degree murder,[4] and Morales' killer was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on July 30, 2004.[5]

Policies

Eating and drinking

Local ordinances strictly forbid riders from eating or drinking while on board a Metrobus, Metrorail train, or inside stations.[6][7][8][9][10] Officers are required to take police action when they observe any criminal activity, but arrests for these minor violations are rare. One exception was on October 23, 2000, when a 12-year-old girl was arrested, searched, and handcuffed for refusing to stop eating french fries while in the Tenleytown–AU Metro station. She was taken to a police juvenile processing area where she was booked, fingerprinted, and detained until her mother arrived to pick her up.[11] At the time of the incident, the officer had no legal authority to take any formal action against a juvenile other than make an arrest. This policy has since been changed and MTPD officers may now issue written warnings to juvenile offenders. Another widely noted case occurred on July 16, 2004, when an EPA employee entered the Metro Center station with a PayDay candy bar. Before passing through the fare gates, patrolling police officers told her to finish eating before she could enter the paid area. Instead, she popped the last bite of the bar into her mouth, continuing to chew it while in the station. She was subsequently arrested after refusing to cooperate with the issuance of a citation for the offense.[12]

Doug Berman, creator producer of NPR shows Car Talk and Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!, was often credited on the former by the nickname "Subway Fugitive", supposedly dating to an incident where he was being ticketed for consuming coffee in a Metro station, but slipped onto a train, escaping the citation.[13]

While sometimes seen as excessive, Metro's zero-tolerance policy, when it comes to crime, including eating, drinking, littering, and other forms of disorder, embodies the broken windows philosophy of crime reduction. According to criminal justice author Nancy G. La Vigne, Metro's attempts to reduce crime, combined with how the station environments were designed with crime prevention in mind,[14] has contributed to the fact that Washington Metro was regarded to be among the safest and cleanest subway systems in the United States in 1996.[15] This has recently been challenged in the media and community after several safety incidents including a full day shutdown on March 15, 2016.[16]

Restrooms

The broken windows philosophy also extends to use of station restroom facilities. Metro's long-standing policy restricts use of restrooms to only employees in order to prevent undesirable activity such as graffiti.[15] One widely publicized example of this was when a pregnant woman was denied access to the bathroom by a station manager at the Shady Grove station in June 2016.[17] Metro now allows the use of restrooms by passengers who gain a station manager's permission, except during periods of heightened terror alerts.[18][19]

Random bag searches

On October 27, 2008, the Metro Transit Police announced plans to immediately begin random searches of backpacks, purses, and other bags. Transit police would search riders at random before boarding a bus or entering a station. It also explained its intent to stop anyone acting suspiciously.[20] Metro claims that "Legal authority to inspect packages brought into the Metro system has been established by the court system on similar types of inspections in mass transit properties, airports, military facilities and courthouses."[21] Metro Transit Police Chief Michael Taborn stated that, if someone were to turn around and simply enter the system through another escalator or elevator, Metro has "a plan to address suspicious behavior".[22] Security expert Bruce Schneier characterized the plan as "security theater against a movie plot threat" and does not believe random bag searches actually improve security.[23]

The Metro Riders' Advisory Council recommended to WMATA's board of directors that Metro hold at least one public meeting regarding the search program. As of December 2008, Metro had not conducted a single bag search.[24]

In 2010 Metro once again announced that it would implement random bag searches, and conducted the first such searches on December 21, 2010.[25] The searches consist of swabbing bags and packages for explosive residue, and X-raying or opening any packages which turned up positive. On the first day of searches, at least one false positive for explosives was produced, which Metro officials indicated could occur for a variety of reasons including if a passenger had recently been in contact with firearms or been to a firing range.[26] The D.C. Bill of Rights Coalition and the Montgomery County Civil Rights Coalition circulated a petition against random bag searches, taking the position that the practice violates the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and would not improve security.[27] On January 3, 2011, Metro held a public forum for the searches at a Metro Riders' Advisory Council meeting, at which more than 50 riders spoke out, most of them in opposition to the searches. However, at the meeting, Metro officials called random bag inspections a "success" and claimed that few riders had complained.[28]

After a prolonged absence, as of February 2017, bag searches have resumed at random stations throughout the Washington Metro area.

See also

References
  1. "Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority Compact" (PDF). Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. August 2009. Retrieved March 27, 2018. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  2. "Metro Transit Police Department". WMATA. Retrieved March 27, 2018.
  3. "Metro Transit Police Department, District of Columbia Fallen Officers". Officer Down Memorial Page. Retrieved March 27, 2018.
  4. "Officer Harry Davis Jr". Officer Down Memorial Page. December 20, 1993. Retrieved March 27, 2018.
  5. "Officer Marlon Francisco Morales". Officer Down Memorial Page. June 13, 2001. Retrieved March 27, 2018.
  6. "Alexandria, VA Code of Ordinances". December 7, 2017. Retrieved March 27, 2018.
  7. "§ 14.2-80, Arlington County Code" (PDF). December 2016. Retrieved March 27, 2018.
  8. "District of Columbia Code, Title 35, Subtitle I, Chapter 2, Subchapter III". Retrieved March 27, 2018.
  9. "Montgomery County Code, § 54A-2". January 18, 2018. Retrieved March 27, 2018.
  10. Prince George's County (Md.) Code, § 20A-102
  11. Hedgepeth v. Washington Metro. Area Transit Auth., 386 F.3d 1148 (D.C. Cir. 2004)
  12. Layton, Lyndsey (July 29, 2004). "Mouthful Gets Metro Passenger Handcuffs and Jail". The Washington Post. pp. A01. Retrieved October 12, 2009.
  13. Alperstein, Olivia (November 5, 2012). "NPR's Dough Berman '84 Speaks at Crowell". The Wesleyan Argus. Retrieved February 12, 2019.
  14. La Vigne, Nancy G. (November 1997). "Visibility and Vigilance: Metro's Situational Approach to Preventing Subway Crime (Research in Brief)" (PDF). National Institute of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  15. La Vigne, Nancy G. (1996). "Safe Transport: Security by Design on the Washington Metro (Chapter 6)". In Clarke, Ronald V. (ed.). Preventing Mass Transit Crime. Criminal Justice Press. ISBN 1-881798-28-3.
  16. "All Metrorail service will be suspended Wednesday, March 16, for emergency inspections" (Press release). WMATA. March 15, 2016. Retrieved March 27, 2018.
  17. Tuss, Adam; Swalec, Andrea (June 29, 2016). "Pregnant Woman Says Metro Worker Refused to Let Her Use Station Bathroom". NBC4 Washington.
  18. "Metro steps up security as a precaution after foiled London terror plot" (Press release). WMATA. August 10, 2006.
  19. Powers, Martine (June 30, 2016). "Want to use a Metro station bathroom? Know your rights". The Washington Post.
  20. Sun, Lena H. (October 28, 2008). "Metro to Randomly Search Riders' Bags". The Washington Post. p. A01.
  21. "Metro Transit Police to begin bag inspection program" (Press release). Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. October 27, 2008. Retrieved February 16, 2018.
  22. Taborn, Michael (October 28, 2008). "Metro Transit's Top Cop Discusses New Search Policy". The Washington Post. Retrieved January 27, 2009.
  23. "Bruce Schneier Talks Metro Bag Searches". The Washington Post. October 31, 2008. Retrieved January 27, 2009.
  24. Dr. Gridlock (December 7, 2008). "Discussion Overdue On Metrorail's Bag-Search Policy". The Washington Post. p. C02.
  25. "Metro Begins Random Bag Searches". WRC-TV. December 21, 2010.
  26. "Metro bag inspections cause minor customer annoyances". Washington Post. December 21, 2010.
  27. "Groups Launch Petition Against Metro Bag Searches". MSNBC. December 20, 2010.
  28. "Metro riders sound off on bag searches". WTOP. January 4, 2011.
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