PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — SEPTA is deploying two dozen additional transit police officers to the Market-Frankford Line to deter crime and boost the visibility of law enforcement.
“We expect our customers are going to see more police out there than they have in quite some time,” SEPTA Transit Police interim Chief Chuck Lawson said Thursday.
“It puts officers up and down the line able to respond to incidents probably a lot quicker than previous deployments.”
Lawson said he was taking officers from desk jobs and special assignments and deploying them to patrol trains and platforms along the El.
“I want them in areas where we’re experiencing more problems, and that happens to be right now on the Market-Frankford Line system,” Lawson told KYW Newsradio.
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“Essentially every unit within the police department is going to contribute to this deployment, so we’re going to get folks on trains that haven’t been out there riding trains in a while. Maybe they were assigned to administrative tasks, or a special operations section,” he said.
Lawson has only held the position of interim chief since July 5, but he said this redeployment was in the works before last week’s shooting on the 15th Street platform and Monday’s rape at the Snyder Avenue station.
More officers are being deployed to the El, Lawson said, because that’s where riders have reported seeing drug and alcohol use, or homeless people damaging property.
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“They’re going to see more cops. Because my resources are finite, we have to be extremely strategic about where we place them,” he said.
Lawson said even after announcing a pay raise for officers last month, the SEPTA Transit Police force is still nearly 50 officers short of its full complement of 260.
The interim chief said he’s seen “positive effects” on recruitment since a 10% pay raise went into effect, but he noted it can take up to a year before a recruit is vetted and trained.
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Overall, ridership is about 56% of pre-COVID levels, and Lawson said he knows that people want to feel safe before returning to SEPTA.
“I’ve been listening to that feedback. We have somewhat neglected that area for a little bit,” Lawson said. “It’s important that they know that we’re listening to them.”