The head of security for Bi-State Development says the agency needs to deal with a feeling among the public that MetroLink is unsafe. "When you look at our overall crime statistics," points out General Manager of Security Kevin Scott, "15 incidents in 100,000 boardings, 50% of those are proactive engagements by law enforcement, our crime rate, actual incident rate is relatively low, extremely low. " High-profile incidents have impacted the image of the St. Louis region's light rail system and led to development of a $52 million Secure Platform Plan.
Listen to our interview about the Secure Platform Plan
Scott tells Total Information AM, eventually, all 39 stations will be upgraded with new cameras and turnstile gates. The first stations set to be transformed are in Illinois. Bi-State President & CEO Taulby Roach says the new plan makes several changes to the stations, "what this is, is a complete shift in security paradigm, where we're essentially taking the original design of MetroLink which was an open system and closing it, with the reasonable things that the public has been asking for."
That includes:
- fare collection gates
- passenger assist telephones
- facial recognition capabilities
- additional fencing
- state-of-the-art security cameras monitored from a real-time camera center
Metro transit is hosting an open house tomorrow Tuesday, June 27 between 4 to 7 p.m. at Spaces (207 East Main St.) in downtown Belleville. A virtual public meeting will be held via Zoom from 6:30 to 8 p.m. on Wednesday, June 28- visit MetroStLouis.org for more information on the Secure Platform Plan.