WSTA Transit Security Council Meeting WSTA Transit
Security Council To review transit
security information in an effort to advise Washington State Transit Agencies about
training opportunities and the standardization of report procedures, codes of conduct,
security plans, crime-reduction methods, and police/judicial cooperation.
Absent Members: Minutes Taken By: ·
Dave Jutilla introduced himself and stated he is the new
Chair; he introduced the new Co-Chair, Dave Redding. He
asked that everyone introduce themselves. ·
Edits to the previous meeting’s minutes were
discussed and the minutes were approved with the amendments.
·
Dave J. stated we are trying to update the active member
list. He passed around the most recent list of
members and requested everyone update their own information and anyone else whose
information they might know. ·
Barb stated she, Michelle Parvinen, & Tracy
Christianson met with ·
The current information regarding the Transit Security
Fair is as follows: o
Plan to hold the
event on July 10th and 11th at the WA State Convention and o
WA State
Convention and o
WA State
Convention and o
The exposition
hall is big enough to hold 20-40 vendors in addition to bus demonstrations. o
The Puyallup
Fair was being considered as a venue, but they want to charge $6000 per day, they will
include no additional classrooms, and they will not guarantee we will be the only event at
the location on our selected days. o
Other venues are
still being considered, but currently the WA State Convention and o
Invitees: law enforcement entities who are not participating
(maybe), all transit managers, assistant managers, & supervisors, from ·
The Transit Security Fair committee is considering
running two separate tracks of classes during the event - one for urban and one for rural. Barb stated there is already good information
available for the rural end, but they are looking for more input on the urban end. ·
The committee is still seeking feedback/input on types
of demonstrations people would like to see. ·
Dave J. asked about safety procedures once a vehicle has
been brought into the building. Barb stated
the safety procedures have not been outlined to the committee at this time. ·
Dave R. asked about parking availability. Barb stated she believes there is a parking
facility but either the committee will have to pre-pay for parking, or individuals driving
would have to pay for it. ·
Barb stated vendors’ fees and registration fees
should cover some of the over-all costs as well. ·
This group discussed a multitude of ideas for
presentations and topics we would like to see addressed at the fair. Below is a list of all ideas: o
Suspicious packages and
searches o
Dealing with difficult people o
Hostage crisis o
How to Handle Hijacking
Situations o
Seated Self-defense for drivers
(not the actual class – a synopsis letting managers know what is available) o
Mobile command – emergency
o
Bomb techs and dog (Tim Morgan
Metro Transit Police) o
Homeland Security folks o
Video systems for coaches (The
CCTV system o
Electronic detectors of weapons
of mass destruction o
Venders Presentations o
On board security camera system
allowing patrol cars to pull up behind the bus and pull up real time images
on their computer o
Communications and
inter-operability (Can we communicate with each other) o
Link rail o
Intercity bus – extend
invitation to NW Motor Coach Association o
Bus system safety o
Train the trainer idea o
7 signs of terrorism o
Threat and vulnerability
assessment o
NT – Training directed to
supervisors o
Grant presentation –
Transit Security Grants 101 o
Awareness Training for transit
employees and operators o
How to address staff who don’t
take security seriously (leave doors open, don’t wear badges) ·
Michelle passed out her card and asked that any
additional ideas or volunteers be e-mailed to her. Barb
stated she would also like ideas e-mailed to her. ·
This group discussed desired changes to current business
practices and the RCW. o
Possession of Dangerous Weapons – This group would like to see language in the RCW which
places all transit agencies into the same category as airplanes regarding dangerous
weapons. This would eliminate individuals’
rights to carry any weapon on the vehicle regardless of whether it is concealed or if they
possess a concealed weapons permit. Barb
stated she has discovered language which prohibits municipalities from making stricter
rules, governing the carrying of weapons onto transit vehicles, than the county employs. Michelle reported a lobbyist met with Rod an told
him this issue is on the “back burner” at this time. Dave J. stated he also has information that this
item will not be addressed until 2008 and we have been asked to not pursue it until that
time. Sheldon asked what transit agencies are
supposed to do when a person carrying a gun or large knife enters the vehicle. It was suggested the operator be instructed to
contact dispatch so dispatch can have a police officer dispatched to request a concealed
weapon’s permit. Dave J. asked everyone
to come to our next meeting with other ideas as to how we could address this situation. o
Smoking Statute/Loitering – Metro has
had difficulty enforcing the smoking statute. They
have attempted to utilize the loitering status as a way to address the smoking, but this
has not been very successful. Dave J.
asked that each agency bring the relevant codes and statutes each uses to the next meeting
so we can discuss the best way to address this as well as the loitering issue. Michelle suggested everyone send the relevant codes
and statutes to her so she could enter them on the website and everyone could access them. o
Suspensions – Carol at Metro stated they have had difficulties with
some judges who have the approach that riding the bus is a right instead of a privilege. She stated this makes it difficult to get
suspensions and other like penalties to stand up in court.
Metro is hesitant to broadcast a need for stricter policies regarding
suspensions as Tri Med ( o
Fare Evasion – Metro & PT have noticed there are no set standards
regarding procedures for fare evasion & policies surrounding this tend to be lax. Joan suggested sending surveys to determine what
agencies currently do & what they would like to do.
Carol suggested phone calls would be more effective than surveys as she
feels people would not take the time to fill out surveys.
Dave J. stated this would be discussed further at the next meeting. ·
Dave stated this should be one of the topics we focus on
at our next meeting. He would like everyone to
gather information on relevant codes and statutes for all of the above listed topics in
addition to any other standards they would like to discuss.
We will share this information and discuss what has and has not worked for
individual agencies. ·
Carol stated she was at an APTA meeting and they
determine safety standards for coach and rail. She suggested we model whatever we put
together after their procedure. They separate
everything into 3 groups: Emergency
Preparedness, Threat, and Vulnerability. Radio Communications ·
Dave J. discussed inter-operability; he feels this is an
extremely important topic. We discussed the
fact that different agencies in this region are operating on different radio frequencies
(150MHZ, 500MHZ, 700MHZ), which makes it very difficult to communicate with each other and
would make dealing with any major emergency chaotic. Dave
R. stated there are some radios out which are multi-channel radios and he feels this is
something that would be worth all agencies slowly implementing. This way we would be able to keep our current
systems, but still communicate with each other. ·
Carol stated Metro is working on looking at
communications for when the tunnel goes up. ·
Dave received a video titled “The Mark”
(produced by the FTA) at the Transit Policing Conference in ·
This group viewed the video. ·
There was discussion about how the East coast is
currently taking transit security more seriously than we are. The next meeting will be held
on March 13th from 10:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. Pierce
Transit will host it at their training facility across the street from their main
building. This meeting ended at 12:18
p.m. Follow Up
If you would like more information about this committee, please contact one of the officers or Michelle Parvinen at WSTA 360.786.9734, 2629 12th Court SW, Olympia, WA 98502-1118, or email michelle@watransit.com |
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