Metro Blue Line to get LBPD Security

With a unanimous 13-0 vote, the board of Metro, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority voted to approve a ratified contract to allow local law enforcement to secure the blue line as opposed to the LA County Sheriff’s Department. With this new contract, the Long Beach Police Department will hire 30 new officers to patrol eight stations of the Metro Blue Line in Long Beach. Proponents of this change cited future reduced response times from 16 minutes down to 6 minutes.

Mayor Robert Garcia who helped champion this bill through the Metropolitan Transportation Authority took to social media to applaud its victory and wrote:

“We just won the Metro contract for the Long Beach Police Department to patrol the Blue Line and our 8 rail platforms. Metro will be paying for approx 30 new police officers for a metro division for Long Beach. We will transition from the Sheriff patrols to our police and will have the full deployment completed over next year. Proud to have made the motion on the board today. This is huge for future safety on the Blue Line.”