Date: July 1, 2020
Author(s): Ma'ayan Dembo
Abstract
The rise of recent protests organized by Black Lives Matter has focused media and political attention on the long-standing issue of state-sanctioned violence and racism in Black and Brown communities in the United States. These issues of police brutality, discrimination, and escalation also extend to policing on public transit systems. The same officers involved in use-of-force cases at a home, business, or during a traffic stop could be patrolling transit the next day. A 2016 investigation by the Labor/Community Strategy Center found the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department racially profiled Black and Brown transit passengers in citations and arrests for fare evasion (Linton, 2017). Responding to concerns about staffing and officer visibility, LA Metro revised its policing contract and now splits security responsibilities among four agencies in its current five-year policing contract for $797 million approved in 2017 (Nelson, 2017). Given the risks associated with policing Black and Brown transit riders and the high price tag for LA Metro, this research on behalf of the Alliance for Community Transit — Los Angeles’ (ACT-LA) Transit Justice Coalition investigates whether armed law enforcement personnel are the most viable way to provide safety and security services for transit. Drawing on case studies informed by previous research and interviews, the researcher evaluated alternatives to armed law enforcement for ensuring passenger safety on LA Metro’s system.
About the Project
This capstone project was completed in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Master of Urban & Regional Planning at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs.