Metro News Release
For immediate release: July 22, 2010
Security enhanced at Metro facilities
Staffing augmented, facilities upgraded, policies revised
Metro has taken a number of immediate actions to enhance the security of its facilities including supplementing security staffing, instituting new identification checks and providing reminders to employees about facility security policies and procedures based on findings of an investigation conducted immediately following the July 9 incident involving a stolen bus.
Among the steps already taken, Metro has supplemented staffing of its facilities by its Special Police Officers who are assigned to provide security at Metrorail yards, Metrobus garages, and other facilities. To provide enhanced coverage at facilities and provide relief during scheduled breaks, roving Special Police patrols by sergeants and relief officers have been established. Metro Transit Police officers also are augmenting the roving patrols.
Metro implemented a new policy to inspect the Metro-issued identification cards of all employees who leave a Metro facility in a Metro vehicle. All Metro employees, including the operators of employee shuttle buses, and Special Police Officers have received reminders about facility security policies.
Further, Metro is in the process of hiring 13 additional Special Police Officers and expects to have them hired next month.
Additional initiatives already underway, include capital improvements to the physical security of facilities such as the installation of new fencing, lighting and security cameras at Metro facilities. At the Bladensburg Bus Division, Metro is exploring the possibility of relocating the temporary guard booth while construction on a new one is completed. Metro also is exploring the future implementation of new technology for buses including driver identification verification prior to starting a bus and the ability to remotely turn off a bus.
To enhance security in the long-term, Metro also is reviewing its uniform policies, exploring the possibility of using bus employees on modified duty to provide security checks and evaluating the costs to hire more Special Police Officers or outside security services.
The Metro Transit Police Department (MTPD) preliminary report found that William Jackson, 19, of Washington, D.C., dressed in a bus operator’s uniform, which he said he obtained from a former employee, drove Metrobus #9318 out of the Bladensburg garage at about 3:20 p.m. He drove along the B2 route picking up passengers before striking a tree at 17th Street and Massachusetts Avenue, SE, around 4:15 p.m. There were no injuries reported at the time. Jackson drove the bus a short distance before fleeing on foot and was apprehended at 16th and Potomac Avenue, SE. He was charged with unauthorized use of a vehicle (stolen vehicle) and is scheduled to appear in court next month. The bus, which is 20-years-old, sustained significant damage and will be retired from the Metrobus fleet.
News release issued at 2:58 pm, July 22, 2010.