LYNNWOOD — Community Transit is asking passengers to help keep buses and park-and-ride lots safe through a new program called Transit Watch, CT officials announced Wednesday.
Transit Watch urges riders to immediately report suspicious packages and people, said John Sindzinski, CT’s chief of operations and development. CT is the first agency in the state to participate in the program, created by the Federal Transit Administration.
"It’s like Neighborhood Watch on public transit," said CT’s board chairwoman, Cathy Reese. "The Transit Watch program will further increase safety for our passengers and employees by involving the public in looking for potential problems."
Snohomish County Sheriff Rick Bart and CT officials unveiled a new Transit Watch bus design Wednesday featuring photos of people’s eyes and the message, "Let’s all count on each other for a safe ride."
Brochures will be handed out to passengers that tell them what to look for and what to do when they notice something questionable.
"I realize we’re talking about some scary situations, but in today’s world we all need to be vigilant all the time," Reese said.
Transit Watch is an extension of CT’s efforts to improve safety on and off buses, Sindzinski said.
Last April, CT switched from using private security to paying Snohomish County sheriff’s deputies to patrol the county’s park-and-ride lots and respond to incidents on buses. The agency is paying $5.9 million over five years for the service.
The money is worth it, Sindzinski said.
A study comparing major crimes in park-and-ride lots shows a significant drop in crime since April 2002, when eight sheriff’s deputies starting serving as CT’s security service, he said.
Although that’s two more officers than the six private security guards CT had on duty, Sindzinski said the key difference is that deputies can immediately act when they see potential problems. Security guards were essentially limited to observing and reporting concerns, he said.
Five former security guards are suing CT, claiming they were wrongfully fired after filing whistleblower complaints. The suit filed in November claims management repeatedly tried to break up the security officers’ union starting in 1996. The employees were removed from their jobs when CT switched to using sheriff’s deputies for security.
Sindzinski declined to comment about the suit, but did say that ‘using law enforcement is a very strong, visible deterrent to crime … we’ve had a very positive response from our riders, who tell us that they feel safer."
He noted that a comparison of 14 of CT’s park-and-rides shows the number of disputes — mostly arguments between riders and drivers — dropped from 125 in May through December 2002 to 59 from May through December 2003.
The same report shows that contacts — when police talk to someone behaving suspiciously — increased from 10 in 2002 to 2,574 in 2003.
But not all crime levels fell.
The number of thefts from parked vehicles, the most common crime reported at the 14 park-and-rides, increased from 28 in 2002 to 61, or 118 percent, in 2003.
Bart said the increase was mainly due to having more deputies available to report the crimes to, and said deputies are working on bringing that number down.
At the Lynnwood Transit Center, the number of vehicle prowls fell 33 percent last year, compared with 2003, Sheriff’s Office statistics show. Overall, crime there dropped 33 percent in the past year.
"This is certainly a success story," Bart said. "We’re very excited about what we’ve been doing in the past year."
Reporter Katherine Schiffner: 425-339-3436 or schiffner@heraldnet.com.
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