In the wake of several highly publicized assaults, the spotlight has been focused on TriMet and to the questions of crime, safety and security on Portland’s public transit system. Footage from a late-December assault of a 14-year-old girl made the rounds on YouTube and in local schools, and local media has highlighted assaults on passengers and TriMet operators.
Last week, two separate assaults brought continued focus and scrutiny to TriMet’s safety policies. The first incident occurred on Feb. 13 and involved a passenger who, when asked to leave the bus, assaulted a TriMet bus operator. The man, later identified as 55-year-old Presley Kittredge Ewing IV, grabbed the driver by the throat. After riders shouted at him to stop and get off the bus, Ewing exited the bus. He was later picked up by police and taken into custody. The driver suffered no serious injuries but was taken to a local hospital.
The second incident occurred on Feb. 14 at a downtown MAX yellow line platform located on Northwest Fifth Avenue and Hoyt Street. The victim reported to Transit Police that three men had followed him off of the MAX, punched him and left the scene on foot. Currently, the only available information on the suspects describes them as being three white men in their mid-30s wearing ski jackets and backpacks.
Despite these recent events, TriMet said that it has not seen an increase in crime, but rather only an increase in media attention as a result of these assaults. The crimes are becoming more visible to riders because of the media’s interest in the incidents. “I do believe that people are hearing more about incidents, as there is more media coverage of them,” said Mary Fetsch, chief relations officer for TriMet. “We have about three reported crimes a day on our overall transit system, and most of them are minor or property crimes,” Fetsch said.
Portland Police Bureau’s Transit Police unit monitors and patrols the entire transit system. Transit Police Commander Michael Crebs said that Transit Police has approximately one crime per day reported specifically on the MAX lines. Normally, Crebs explained, the kinds of assaults that occur on transit are what are known as Assault Four crimes, which is defined as knowingly and intentionally causing physical injury to another person. An example of an Assault Four crime would be a fistfight.
“A typical assault does not get the media coverage a TriMet assault gets,” Crebs said. “Some of these assaults are so minor that, if it happened on the street, they may not be investigated the same way TriMet investigates.”
The Transit Police unit is funded by $8 million provided by TriMet. Composed of 62 officers and deputies from police agencies all over the metro area, the Transit Police unit includes a canine division, an undercover division and patrolmen. The unit serves as an additional “blanket of security” for riders, according to Crebs.
“TriMet isn’t required to hire police officers,” said Crebs. “This is specific to their system.”
For one TriMet operator, however, lack of regulation in transit services is the cause of the crime rate on TriMet. Al Margulies writes about his job as a TriMet operator on his blog, Rantings of a TriMet Bus Driver. The results of policy change and loose regulation have made a difference in atmosphere. “It’s not pleasant to ride in,” said Margulies of TriMet. “It’s an uncontrolled space.”
Margulies explained that the lack of regulation comes from the open, unsecured access to stops and MAX stations in addition to an insufficient amount of fare inspections. “It may help if stations were more secure,” he said. “There’s no expectation of behavior.”
TriMet is working to tighten security with additional police presence and increased fare enforcement, along with the appointment of a new safety and security director. However, the ways in which the community involves itself in public transit also make a significant difference.
“One of the Transit Police officers likens our service to that of a moving sidewalk. We’re part of the community, and what happens on the sidewalk and the surrounding neighborhood, also at times will happen on transit,” Fetsch said.
“The biggest problem on a system is the perception of crimes,” Crebs said. “There is already crime in your neighborhood. It’s the same people that were there before; they’re just using the train.”
Crebs believes that it’s riders who need to set the tone for behavior on transit. “We need the good citizens to ride trains and buses to set the tone for what’s acceptable behavior. It’s peer pressure.”
Portland State, which serves as a major transit stop for TriMet, has MAX lines running through campus and bus stops scattered throughout the area. Statistics gathered by the PSU Office of Transportation and Parking show that 40 percent of PSU students use TriMet to reach campus.