RTD Turns Up Heat on Buses With a New Show of Force : Transit: Heavily armed patrols ride along in a stepped-up effort to reduce graffiti, drinking and unruly behavior.

Wearing bulletproof vests and belts loaded with pistols, 30 rounds of ammunition, nightsticks and Mace, 22 transit police from the RTD’s new uniformed patrol took to the San Fernando Valley’s buses Tuesday to stamp out graffiti, boisterous behavior, and eating and drinking on board.

“You can’t underestimate people--you just never know what’s going to happen,” said RTD Officer Frank Higuera, referring to his chest armor and the arsenal of weaponry strapped to his waist.

“Most of our problems are minor, but you’re on a bus, near a lot of people, and somebody could stab you, shove you or throw something at you.”

Despite the image of battle readiness presented by the officers, transit officials at a Sherman Oaks news conference called to publicize the new patrols were eager to reassure the 150,000 daily bus riders in the Valley that the buses are safe.

The uniformed patrols, part of a countywide program that began downtown in August, were extended to the Valley to encourage public confidence, they said.

“It’s for peace of mind,” said RTD Board President Nikolas Patsaouras, adding that riders are generally unaware that the agency has 125 police officers who have the same powers as other peace officers.

Some ride the buses in plain clothes, but “the high visibility of uniformed officers is to let people know who the transit police are,” Patsaouras said.

Of the 1,374 crimes reported to transit officials last year, only about 40--or 3%--occurred in the Valley, RTD Police Chief Sharon Papa said.

The most common problems in the Valley--graffiti, eating and drinking on the bus and rowdy schoolchildren who sometimes frighten the elderly--are minor compared to those in such places as South-Central, where fights and robberies are far more prevalent, she said.

Transit officials said they are able to provide uniformed patrols aboard buses without reducing the capability of transit police to

respond to emergency calls for help from bus drivers, who are equipped with radios and a silent alarm.

The RTD Police Department has doubled in size in recent years because the agency hired more police in anticipation of providing security on the new “blue line” light rail system between downtown Los Angeles and Long Beach, they said.

But RTD directors wound up contracting with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department to patrol the rail line, freeing officers for other assignments. Papa said RTD police will probably replace the deputies when the contract expires in 1992.

In the meantime, some transit officers will ride buses throughout the county, not just the Valley.

Officers work in three-member teams, with one riding in a “chase” car and two on the bus.

“I transferred up here to the Valley because it’s safer, but I’m still glad to see the officers,” said John H. Johnson, a driver on Route 234 between Sherman Oaks and Sylmar on Tuesday morning. “I don’t mess with the kids when they start painting graffiti--they usually keep some kind of weapon in their pocket.”

One of his passengers, Jane Gallagher, 47, of Van Nuys, said: “It’s nice to get on a bus and see police officers because you know the other passengers aren’t going to start any garbage.”

But another passenger, Mary Thomas, 49, of Van Nuys, who said she is disabled, seemed somewhat dismayed.

“I’m not a good driver and I have the sense to know it and ride the bus,” said Thomas, pointing at Higuera and his partner. “But, I ask you--are things so bad that we need them? If so, let me off the bus.”