WSTA Transit Security TSC Meeting hosted by Pierce Transit
Tuesday, August 12, 2008, 10:00 am – 12:00 pm
Pierce Transit Training Facility, Rainier Room

WSTA Transit Security TSC 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:
Robert Muzzy, Whatcom Transit Authority
Joan Cormany, Pierce Transit
David Sorenson, Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office/Community Transit
Robert (Bob) Isaman, Emergency Management Division
Rod Baker, Pierce Transit
Dave Jutilla, Metro Transit
Bill Cassio, Pierce Transit
Sheldon Breaux, Kitsap Transit
Ron Griffin, Sound Transit
Phil Early, Intercity Transit
Captain Lisa Pepin, Metro Transit
Ray Hawkins, Pierce Transit 

Minutes taken by:
 Judi Brown, Pierce Transit

Minutes:
Dave Jutilla called the meeting to order at 10:18 am. He said he would contact Beverly to get minutes from the last meeting. He introduced and welcomed Ron Griffin, the new Chief of Police with Sound Transit, to the TSC.

Radio Interoperability
Dave invited comments regarding the matter of radio interoperability. Rod Baker said Pierce Transit is nearly finished with testing and the system seems to be working. He noted the system is being expanded to include the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department. Rod said he was contacted by Pierce County about Pierce Transit’s property on the East side of S Tacoma Wy & 96^th as a potential site for its new radio communications center.

Legislative Issues
Moving on to legislative issues, Dave asked about Community Transit’s operational plan following the passage earlier this year of ESHB 2480, legislation CT pushed to get passed, concerning public transportation fare enforcement. David Sorenson said Community Transit is in the midst of contract negotiations now, and currently there is no fare enforcement. He said it appeared CT might be looking to the Sheriff’s Department to hire fare enforcers. Dave reminded the group that CT  will soon be offering bus rapid transit (SWIFT), Metro will offer bus rapid transit and Sound Transit  will offer light rail, all operating on proof of payment systems. He added he has been in contact with Portland regarding a host of security issues related to rapid transit and suggested it might be worth a trip to Portland to see how their light rail system works.

Dave distributed the latest draft (version 6) of the legislative update to Unlawful Transit Conduct for the group to review. Section 1(c) has been revised; the word “chemicals” has been replaced with “hazardous substances and automotive fluids.” Bob Isaman asked whether “hazardous substances” would be defined in the legislation. Dave said he would confirm whether it was already defined elsewhere in the RCW.

The words, “with intent to do harm,” were added to Section 1(k). Following discussion and further revision, the TSC recommended Section 1(k) be changed to read, “Throws an object at any person at a transit facility with intent to do harm.”

Dave noted a definition for “Transit Authority” was added to Section 2. There was discussion among the TSC about the need to add Regional Transit Authority, RTA, to that definition. It was suggested a legal opinion should be sought as to the need to refresh previously retracted language, revise the definition or just add another RCW reference after RCW 69.50.435.6(f).

Lisa Pepin suggested a reference to “intent” needed to be added to Section 1(m) to prevent people who might wear used bus driver uniforms they purchased at thrift shops from violating a law. After discussion, the TSC agreed to add the words “which intentionally” before “creates a false impression…” in that section.

Dave said he would make the recommended revisions and send the updated version of the legislation out by the end of the week. He said he would attempt to contact the Washington State Ferry System and the Washington State Patrol, as there was concern among the TSC that those entities are not represented on the TSC and the legislation applies to them as well. Dave said the draft legislation will be presented to the WSTA Executive Committee at the end of this week. He noted that Labor, Local 587, has shown interest in and support of the changes to the unlawful transit conduct legislation.

Suspension/Exclusion Information Sharing
Dave asked for feedback regarding suspension and exclusion information sharing. David said the current practice of bringing packets of long-term and indefinite suspensions to these meetings is good, and added that transit agencies are not only sharing exclusion information, but fraud too, which resulted in one recent arrest. Dave said Metro’s exclusion policies have been challenged at the court level as arbitrary and capricious. He commented that PT has a very comprehensive suspension/exclusion and appeal process. Joan explained that PT has an appeal board comprised of 5 or 7 people, but the number of appeals has declined since PT instituted an in-house review process. Rod said whenever a person files an appeal to an exclusion, PT staff conducts an in-house review and often revises the exclusion at that time. 80% of the appeals are handled through in-house review.

In response to a suggestion that transit agencies share more than just exclusion information with one another, Rod said they have talked about adding a section to the WSTA website that would be a secured site for transit security to share this information. Dave said he would contact Michelle Parvinen to follow up. Rod noted the website would not be free so the TSC would need to find a way to pay for it, perhaps through a grant.

WSTA TSC Secretary and Chair Positions Open this Fall
Before addressing new business, Dave reminded the TSC that the WSTA Transit Security TSC Secretary, Chair and Co-Chair positions are all open and nominations will be accepted for the positions between now and the next meeting of the TSC. The Chair is a two-year term.

Regional Strategies and Opportunities for Grants
Regional strategies and opportunities for grants was the topic of discussion at a meeting in July with staff from the TSA and Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Dave said he, Bill Cassio and others from the TSC attended the meeting. The focus of the discussion was Seattle’s, and the region’s, ranking for DHS grant funding. Presently Seattle/Metro is in the top 5 of Tier 2 agencies. As such, Seattle competes for funding with other Tier 2 agencies, but doesn’t qualify for directly allocated DHS grant funding like Tier 1 agencies do.

Bob explained that DHS applies risk formulas that encompass ridership, threat levels and vulnerability when assessing transit agencies. The advantages to Tier 1 rankings are directly allocated funds, no competition and a longer time period for investment justification. The only downside for a region with Tier 1 status is determining how the grant funds will be split. Tier 2 agencies not only compete for funds but also have a shorter time frame for investment justification. He went on to say that in 2003 a transit agency regional working group was formed that included Metro, Sound Transit, Washington State Ferries, Amtrak and later Pierce Transit and Community Transit. That group was formed to develop grant deliverables. As a Tier 2 region, that group was not required and they have not met in a year. In addition, the Washington State Ferries cannot now qualify for both transit security grants and port security grants for the same thing.

Dave characterized the DHS discussions as being at the “10,000 foot level now” but further meetings are planned. Mike Decapua, Homeland Security for Metro, is organizing a meeting on Tuesday, October 21, for the general managers from the region’s transit agencies to meet with TSA to review regional opportunities.

Bob reminded the TSC that now, between grant cycles, is a good time to prepare investment justifications for transit security grants that will become available early in 2009. He said that if efforts are successful to get the region updated to Tier 1 status then the transit agency regional working group will need to be revived. He also suggested that agencies look at their security plans and to make sure they are updated on a regular basis. Rod commented that FTA does a triennial review and they recommend combining three existing plans – agency safety plan, agency system & security plan and agency emergency response plan are combined into one “all hazards” approach.

Visible Intermodal Response Prevention (VIPR)
An Air Marshall presented the Visible Intermodal Response Prevention (VIPR) system at an earlier meeting. Dave asked for reaction from the TSC. Rod said PT saw an immediate use for VIPR in 2010 and again in 2015 when major golf tournaments are scheduled in Pierce County.

Roundtable

After Action Conference
Dave stated an After Action Conference is scheduled for September 10, 2008, in Orlando, Florida. Bob suggested all the agencies review the grant guidelines and topics to be discussed, compare them to security programs that might already be budgeted out for several years, and forward suggestions on how the guidelines might more closely align with agencies’ priorities to Charma Anderson, who will be representing EMD at the conference. Dave said he will inquire about whether grant money Metro has can be used to send any other transit agency security personnel to the conference.

Pierce Transit – Transit Security
Rod reported PT is in the process of hiring three Transit Security Sergeants and will hire 15 Security Officers by the end of November. PT will no longer use private security companies once the security officers are on board. He also told the TSC that new threat and vulnerability assessment templates are available on the APTA website. Dave suggested he download them and forward them to the TSC.

Ray Hawkins, who joined the meeting late, said the radio interoperability systems are still being tested.

Whatcom Transit
Robert Muzzy said the Whatcom Transit Authority passed its triennial review in May. He said Whatcom recently acquired three busses, but due to budget constraints they might not get all the cameras they wanted.

Intercity Transit
Phil explained that within a span of a few hours a motorcycle collided with an Intercity Transit bus and then a vehicle broadsided an Intercity Transit bus. He said the camera system in the busses made the investigations into the accidents much easier. In addition, he said, they are noticing that the cameras are helping modify both driver and passenger behavior. Phil also noted they are in the process of an overdue security assessment.

Kitsap Transit
Sheldon Breaux said Kitsap Transit budget constraints are forcing some restructuring at his agency. They are implementing a window dispatch system. Securitas has just renewed its security contract for five years and the agency, like others in the region, is in labor contract negotiations.

Sound Transit
Ron Griffin said Sound Transit will be adding personnel and plans to have about 30 security deputies and patrol sergeants by the time the light rail system commences operation next summer when the light rail system is scheduled to begin operations.

The meeting was adjourned at 12:25pm.

Agenda items for next meeting:

• Transit Security section added to WSTA website
• Radio Interoperability
• Legislative Issues
• Regional Strategies and Opportunities for Grants

Date of next meeting:  Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Hosted by:  Metro Transit, Transit Control Center