RTD’s Blue Line Police Vote Deepens Rift

The Southern California Rapid Transit District voted Thursday to have its transit police handle security on the $871-million Blue Line trolley that starts running from downtown Los Angeles to Long Beach this summer.

With its 9 to 2 vote, the RTD board almost certainly escalated its feud with the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission. The commission, which is building the rail line that RTD will operate, had recommended that the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department be contracted to provide security for the line.

The board expressed confidence that its own security force could protect riders and the railway as well as sheriff’s deputies--and at less cost.

For more than two years, the RTD and LACTC have been at odds over which should be building and operating mass transit rail projects in the county. Delays caused by the disputes could wind up costing taxpayers $120 million on the Metro Rail subway project linking downtown with the San Fernando Valley, officials have said.

The commission has built the 22-mile light rail line--the first of several commuter rail lines planned for the county--and the RTD is to operate it under contract to the commission. As the “owner” of the line, the commission said it was willing to pay up to $11.5 million for the sheriff to police it.

“This is a setback,” said Norman Jester, a commission spokesman said after the vote Thursday. He reiterated the commission position that the RTD transit police could not provide the level of security needed to build public confidence in the rail line.

Jester said the controversial decision will be discussed by the commission at its mid-February meeting.

“The commission could still decide to use the sheriff,” Jester said. It could also vote to go along with the RTD. Either way, the cost of security will be paid by the commission, as owner and funding authority for the project, he said.

RTD Director Larry Gonzalez, chairman of the board’s police committee, disagreed with this assessment. He said the commission had no alternatives but to fund beefing up the RTD police to take over security on the Blue Line.

“This vote ended it,” Gonzalez said.

Security experts from each agency presented various enforcement plans to the board Thursday.

The RTD transit police have budgeted $6.2 million to police the Blue Line and would eventually deploy 101 sworn officers, according to RTD Chief Sharon Papa.

She said the district would have to hire 50 to 70 off-duty police from other agencies on a part-time basis for a year while the district trained and deployed a full security force.

The RTD budget is about half what the commission earmarked for the Sheriff’s Department. Jester said the sheriff’s Blue Line unit would have 107 sworn officers on a full-time basis. The sheriff’s unit would be ready to take over when the line starts running July 16, he said.