WSTA Transit Security Council Meeting hosted by Sound Transit
Tuesday, April 8, 2008, 11:00am – 1:00pm
Sound Transit

WSTA Transit Security Council Mission Statement

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.

Attendees:
Joan Cormany, Pierce Transit
Geoffrey Getchman, Seattle Police Department
Captain Dave Jutilla, Metro Transit Police
Rod Baker, Pierce Transit
Bill Cassio, Pierce County, S.D.
Robert (Bob) Isaman, WA State Emergency Management
Kenneth Cummins, Sound Transit
Robert Muzzy, Whatcom Transportation Authority
David Sorenson, SCSO / C-Tran
Phil Early, Intercity Transit
Sheldon Breaux, Kitsap Transit
Ray Hawkins, Pierce Transit
Captain Lisa Peppin, Metro Transit Police     
Dave Fairbanks, King County Metro
Captain Scott Strathy, Metro Transit Police
Chris Rankin, TSA
Wade Mahala, Community Transit
Guest: Melanie Smith, Sound Transit Lobbyist

Absent Members:
Michelle Parvinen, WSTA
Barb Savary, WSDOT
John Harkins, Pierce Transit
Carol Cummings, Metro Transit Police
Sgt. Dave Redding, Pierce County Sheriff’s Dept.
Sgt. Phillip Nichols, Snohomish County Sheriff’s Dept.
Lt. Rodney Rochon, Snohomish County Sheriff’s Dept.
Chuck Cox, King County Metro
Jim Dusevoir, Amtrak Transit Police
James Tompkins, Department of Homeland Security
Roland Bradley, Metro Transit
Tracy Christianson, WSTIP
Bob Medcraft, C-Tran
Don Burr, Community Transit
Mike Burris, Community Transit

Minutes Taken By:
Beverly McCarter

Standing Items:

Dave opened the meeting with introductions.  

The group reviewed the previous meeting’s notes for edits.  Edits were noted and made.  A motion to accept the notes with edits was approved. 

Radio Interoperability                                    

Dave Jutilla stated there have been no significant changes in the last 60 days.          

Ray Hawkins stated Pierce Transit is working on a letter of agreement with Pierce County allowing them to use PT’s new radio system as a base and to have them build out from PT’s system.  There is not room in the 800 MHz so the county is looking to use the rest of 700 MHz.  This is a benefit to Pierce Transit as it will increase PT’s coverage and if Pierce County uses it for law enforcement this will allow ease in communicating with the law enforcement agency.  The king county connection will also be great as 700 MHz and 800 MHz are compatible to operate on a single radio in many of the Motorola radios; you can also patch them together and scan both bands at the same time.  Ray stated this is a great opportunity for police, fire and transit to be able to work together. 

Dave Fairbanks stated Metro has been working with Motorola to spec out a 700 MHz system; they have been on 400 MHz for a while and cannot get replacement pieces anymore.  This system will be designed for interoperability with King County law enforcement and Sound Transit.

Legislative Issues

·         ESHB 2480 Status
In our last meeting we discussed identifying a mechanism for fare enforcement on BRT (Bus Rapid Transit).  Dave Jutilla, Rod Baker, and a member of the transit union at Metro went to Olympia to testify on what they would like the RCW to reflect. 

·         Unlawful Transit Conduct Update
o   We discussed, at the last meeting, the current unlawful bus conduct statute (out of title 9) which this group feels is too scarce.  We have updated the wording to how we would like to see it and have discussed this with various agencies.  The managers of all the agencies approached have found it to be a good direction.  Dave Jutilla and Rod Baker went to the Executive WSTA meeting to present what we would like to see and what we have been doing.

·         March WSTA Exec. Meeting
o   At the Executive WSTA meeting they discussed the history of title 9 and the lack of tools for enforcement the transit agencies currently face.  They discussed the proposals item by item, which wound up being about 1.5 hours long (originally planned for 30 min).  The WSTA Executives made some recommendations.  Dave and Rod agreed on behalf of this group to take what we had written up and fine tune it further.  They agreed we would sit down with a legal writing specialist and make sure it is not superseding any RCW already existing.  Rod stated Louise Bray (Pierce Transit) agreed to help this group craft the wording and verbiage.  The WSTA Executives encouraged this group to continue moving in this direction and continue informing other police and transit agencies so we can get lots of feedback and make sure this verbiage is what everyone wants. 

o   Dave stated it will be this group’s goal to bring a more finessed version to the Executive WSTA team.  The Executive team also asked us to reach out to WASPIC to see if WSTA and WASPIC could possibly co-sponsor this in the future.  Dave reiterated this is a slow and methodical change, so we just need to keep moving forward and continue to get as much input as possible.

·         Next Steps

o   Sheldon Breaux asked what happens once this new RCW is in affect.  Dave J. stated that whatever police authority in the area of that transit agency would have more tools to work with and that all the police authorities would have the same RCW codes to work with so the rules could be more consistent across all transit agencies.  Officer discretion would remain very important but the officers would have more specific tools to enforce unlawful bus conduct. 

o   Sheldon asked if the public will be informed of these changes to the RCW.  Dave J. stated the public education piece will be very important; the public and the police departments will need to be informed. 

o   Dave estimated it will be Jan or Feb of ‘09 before this can go to the next level. 

Information Sharing on Long Term Suspensions/Exclusions              

Dave stated that after much discussion and many ideas there has still been no resolution on this topic.  He suggested this may be an issue where one size does not fit all.  It seems we all have very specific exclusion policies that work for us and we could be getting into law trouble with sharing too much information with each other.  Also it does not seem feasible for there to be an easily and regularly maintained center of information.  He feels the commitment we may need to agree to is for the most grievous offenses (i.e. assault) we will share, but on all other items we maintain the current policies and practices we have.

Dave said the processes we have been following seem to be working and a suspension or exclusion policy in the RCW wouldn’t fit statewide, he thinks we should continue as we are all currently proceeding.

Robert Muzzy said if someone assaults another passenger or issues a bomb threat his agency would want to know about it, especially if this person was excluded for life.  He stated his understanding is the only way to obtain this information would be to call the other agencies individually to ask if anything like this happened.  Dave J. verified this is currently the only way to obtain the information.  Robert asked if it would be appropriate for his agency to call nearby agencies if they were suspicious of a person having a violent history.  Dave J. stated it would be appropriate, but it would be important for their agency to have some policies in place before doing so as how that information was used would determine whether or not his agency was heavily scrutinized or not.  Robert stated he will be reviewing their policies and considering some changes.  Joan asked if Robert received Pierce Transit’s passenger exclusion program policies which she sent to him after the last meeting, he verified he received this. 

New agenda items:

TSA Developing Rule on Security Training         

Rod baker authored some letters and sent information to TSA, pushing the limits of transit on mandates.  Ken stated they took the proposed 11 pieces and submitted information to develop this program, Sound Transit is tapped and if the mandates are going to occur they will need to get ahead of it as they will be behind the requirements right away; if they receive grant money he will share their needs with this group, but he doesn’t know if they will get the funding

Bob Isaman stated he e-mailed detailed information regarding the grant money.  It states what type of projects they give more and less weight to as well as the different tiers.  Bob stated the information is also available on-line.

Public Transportation Conference            

Barb was not present so Dave J. asked everyone to think about what kinds of workshops would be good for the state-wide conference.  He stated if there were things people really liked out of the Bus System Safety Conference we could use that.

Joan asked if the rating sheets for the Bus System Safety Conference were back, Dave said they were.  Joan and Ken would both like to review these to know what their ratings were. 

WSTA TSC - Board position in a few months              

Dave J. stated he has been the chair for 2 years now and the term is 2 years.  He would like for people to think about the fact that this will open up in the next couple months and start thinking about who they would like for their next chair.    

Break for lunch from 12:00 to 12:25

Roundtable                                       

Whatcom Transportation Authority

Robert stated they are having him spend more time on safety and security issues, (he was safety and training), so now his focus has been more centered on security than in the past.   He noted there will be a national level exercise between May 1^st and May 8^th that his agency will be attending as they have a seat at the emergency table.  Seattle and King County will not be participating.

Pierce Transit

Joan reported that since the last meeting she was promoted to the position of Manager of Physical Security and Records.   She oversees many things including the passenger exclusion program.   She is also the technical agency coordinator, so she will be working on all the law enforcement issues.

Ray was also promoted to the position of Assistant Manager of Communications.

Metro

Scott Strathy is a new member; he was just promoted to Captain. 

Kitsap Transit

Sheldon stated they continue working on a tunnel in downtown Bremerton.  They are also working on a work release program where the convicts get on the ferries and busses to work outside of the prison.  He stated they have had some trouble with them being rough characters but they have been warned that if they don’t behave they can be excluded and if they get excluded they go back to jail without the opportunity to work outside. 

Community Transit

Wade is a new member, he is just out of probation at Community Transit.  He came from Skagit Transit.

Sound Transit

Ken stated they are working to clear out the Lakeview subdivision.  He stated it was going to be $250K to clear 40 acres but they wound up getting the cost down to $15K.   The area has been used for many nefarious reasons so they are working with the Lakewood police dept to clean up the area in hopes of decreasing crime.  ST will then start actively patrolling the area will begin storing the trains here at night.

Chair

Dave requested that the open carry issue be on the agenda for next month, RCW 9.41.300.  He stated we need to craft something to go in the RCW.  We can come back and figure out how we can make some statutory wording fit.  Dave asked Ken to bring some feedback from the Sound Transit legal team.   We would like to make it state law so it is enforceable in all municipalities.

Next meeting will be June 11^th starting at 12:30; Community Transit will host and Dave Sorenson will provide directions. 

This meeting ended at 12:55