Sheriff, Police Vie for MTA Pacts

Competition for a multimillion-dollar security contract to police the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s bus and train system heated up Tuesday, as elected city and county officials pushed their respective police agencies forward.

The Los Angeles City Council unanimously approved a Los Angeles Police Department plan to bid on a security contract for county buses and trains. Meantime, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department received approval from the county Board of Supervisors to proceed with its own contract offer.

Policing of the MTA’s rail and bus system is now split under a contract costing the transit agency nearly $60 million. The LAPD patrols buses in Los Angeles and the Red Line subway. The Sheriff’s Department patrols buses throughout the remainder of the county and the Blue and Green Line railways.

The five-year contracts for both police agencies expired Nov. 1. The MTA has temporarily extended the contracts and asked the police agencies to offer new bids by Friday that reflect the MTA’s desire to cut costs and change how it is policed. The transit agency wants more say in officer deployment and wants a team of civilians to check fares, a job now done by uniformed officers.

Capt. Dan Finkelstein, head of the sheriff’s transit division, said his department will offer a plan to take over the entire security contract. That would send scores of deputies fanning across Los Angeles for the first time on buses and trains. The plan would create a transit force of about 340 deputies for nearly $50 million, Finkelstein said.

The City Council cleared the way for two LAPD bids. A $26-million contract would deploy 166 officers providing security on buses throughout central Los Angeles and on the Red Line. A more expansive contract offer calls for the LAPD to put officers on buses in the city, plus the Red Line and the Gold Line, which is expected to open in July.