Metro has begun the second phase of the Weapons Detection Pilot Program, Board of Directors Chair and Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn announced Monday.
Weapons detection systems are now operating at Metro’s Norwalk Station on the C or Green Line and the San Pedro Street Station on the A or Blue Line.
“You can’t take a gun or knife into a Dodger Game, a concert, or a government building, and you shouldn’t be able to bring them on Metro,” Hahn said in a statement. “Let me be clear: weapons do not belong on Metro. There is no room for compromise on that. My goal is simple but firm: a Metro system where all of our riders feel safe, respected, and confident that they will get to their destination without fear.”
The weapons detection program uses pillar-style scanners monitored by Metro security officers at two stations simultaneously for two-month increments over the next 12 months, officials said.
Metro riders will walk between sensors that detect concealed weapons without requiring people to stop and submit to a search. If the system flags a person attempting to enter the station, the individual “will be subject to further screenings including a search of their belongings and follow-up questions,” according to Hahn’s office.
Hahn was joined in making the Phase 2 announcement at the Norwalk Station by Metro Board Vice Chair Fernando Dutra, Metro Deputy CEO Sharon Gookin and Robert Gummer, the agency’s deputy chief of system security and law enforcement. The Norwalk Station is the C Line’s eastern terminus and a major commuter hub for the Gateway Cities area.
“The Metro board is committed to helping Metro explore every opportunity to make the system safer for employees and customers,” Dutra, who is also a Whittier City Council member, said in a statement. “Testing innovative solutions, such as weapons detection systems, seems like a logical next step in expanding Metro’s safety resources.”
From August through December last year, Metro conducted Phase 1 of the weapons detection technology pilot program at Union Station in downtown LA and APU/Citrus College Station in Azusa. In addition to screening riders for weapons possession, Metro also tested video analytics systems at Union Station that scan closed-circuit video feeds in real time to spot threats, such as a person brandishing a weapon, and sends alerts to law enforcement.
In February Hahn, Dutra and Metro board members Kathryn Barger, the LA County Board of Supervisors chair; LA County Supervisor Hilda Solis; LA Mayor Karen Bass; and Inglewood Mayor James Butts led the call for expanding the pilot program for Phase 2.
“Nothing is more important to Metro than the safety of our employees and customers,” Metro CEO Stephanie Wiggins said in a statement. “The weapons detection pilot is an additional tool to help improve safety on Metro, which includes increasing our uniformed presence on the system, insuring people are only using Metro for transit and working more closely with our city and county partners to address the societal issues of people experiencing homelessness, drug addiction and untreated mental illnesses.”
According to a Metro report, the passenger screening system technology has so far proved to be effective. “While no weapons threats were identified on passengers, the systems detected officers’ service weapons with 100% accuracy.”
At Hahn’s request, the Metro board’s February motion also called for the agency to explore bringing weapons detectors onto buses. Metro has identified a vendor to conduct the 12-month pilot program on buses and is working to schedule its launch, officials said.
