Union Tries to Block L.A. Probe of RTD Drivers

The Southern California Rapid Transit District bus drivers’ union will go to court today to try to prevent the Los Angeles city attorney from examining the driving records of thousands of its members.

City Atty. James Hahn, saying he is concerned about an “urgent matter of public safety,” on Thursday requested and obtained from the RTD records on thousands of drivers. Responding to news reports that one out of eight RTD drivers do not have valid licenses, Hahn demanded the names, birth dates and drivers’ license numbers of all 5,000 RTD drivers to determine if any had been operating buses illegally.

The United Transportation Union called Hahn’s probe a “witch hunt” and an invasion of privacy, and tried Thursday to block the release of the information.

But when union attorneys arrived in court at 1 p.m., RTD General Manager John Dyer had turned over the records to investigators an hour earlier. Union lawyers will return to court today seeking an order preventing Hahn’s office from using the information.

“Our members’ rights have been violated and this district is legally responsible,” said union Chairman Earl Clark. Union lawyers said they will argue that the city attorney can only seek records on individuals whom he suspects of a crime. “Personnel records are confidential. . . . This is a broad fishing expedition,” union attorney Lawrence Drasin said.

However, at an RTD board meeting Thursday afternoon, Dyer said Hahn is conducting a criminal investigation and demanded the records by noon. “I saw no way this district could afford to be in the position of obstructing justice,” Dyer said.

Reginald Dunn, chief of the criminal operations division of the city attorney’s office, said there is no invasion of privacy because the records will not be disclosed. “We have not only a right, but a duty” to investigate, Dunn said.

The city attorney’s probe, which was announced Wednesday, is a response to news reports that 12% of RTD drivers have expired or suspended licenses or are the subject of outstanding warrants. The allegations are part of an avalanche of criticism directed at drivers in the wake of reports of drug abuse and a rash of highly publicized accidents that have injured more than 100 people.

The RTD board has sought to restore public confidence by conducting its own safety investigation, adopting tougher policies on drug testing and, most recently, by making its own survey of bus operators’ driving records.

While the RTD’s internal review of drivers’ records is not complete, Dyer told the board that during the past six days all of the bus drivers arriving for work have been checked for valid licenses and medical fitness certificates. A total of 119 did not have valid credentials with them, although by Wednesday most had produced them and only 33 drivers were still being held out of service.

In another development Thursday, the board on a split 6-3 vote agreed to open to the public all future meetings of a panel of transit experts investigating the district’s safety record. The board also ordered the meetings held in Los Angeles.

Panel members, many of whom are from the Midwest and the East, had previously said they would conduct their meetings privately, and on occasion in other cities. However, the Herald Examiner this week obtained a court order barring an upcoming meeting in Chicago after arguing that it violated California law.

Board member Nate Holden, who called for the open meetings, said RTD officials “are going to have to extend ourselves to restore confidence.”