LOS ANGELES (KNX) — Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said Wednesday that the city could see a crime wave along subway and bus lines if L.A. Metro officials approve recommendations from an advisory group to end its contract with his department.
The proposal was unanimously approved by L.A. Metro's 14-member Public Safety Advisory Committee earlier this month. The plan would replace sheriff's deputies at bus stations and on train platforms with "transit ambassadors," and shift jurisdication away from the department and toward local police.
Villanueva has criticized the committee as a "woke advisory group," and voiced concerns that transit ambassadors were not equipped to provide security along L.A. Metro lines.
"If there is no safety, the perception that it is unsafe, people don’t ride the subways, the trains, the busses," Villanueva said.
At a press conference on Wednesday, the sheriff presented data showing a 28% increase in violent crime on L.A. buses and trains, from 150 reports in 2019 to 192 in 2020.
However, that data only encompassed reports handled by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. When statistics for the Los Angeles and Long Beach police departments, which also provide security for L.A. Metro, are factored in, violent crime across the system dropped by 12% during over the same period.
L.A. Metro officials have advised its board of directors to maintain contracts with the Sheriff's Department through their expiration date in June 2022, and tack on an extension of six months while they work out the finer points of the advisory committee's recommendations.
"We believe this will give Metro’s Public Safety Advisory Committee sufficient time to finalize its long-term recommendations," LA Metro officials wrote in a statement responding to Villanueva's comments.
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