National Academies Press: OpenBook

Policing and Public Transportation (2022)

Chapter: A. Agreements and Intergovernmental Agreements for Police Assistance Services

« Previous: XX. PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITIES AGREEMENTS AND STRATEGIES FOR EFFECTIVE ADMINISTRATION OF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND TRAINING
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Suggested Citation:"A. Agreements and Intergovernmental Agreements for Police Assistance Services." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Policing and Public Transportation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26652.
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Page 46
Page 47
Suggested Citation:"A. Agreements and Intergovernmental Agreements for Police Assistance Services." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. Policing and Public Transportation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26652.
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Page 47

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46 TCRP LRD 58 • Community policing requires top-down agency-wide commitment to developing new skills through training and experimentation with new approaches to solving long-term community problems.657 MetroLink’s Police Assistance Services Agreement shows that one of MetroLink’s priorities is to integrate its transit polic- ing “with the City of St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department’s initiatives on community policing to encourage more direct po- lice involvement with our riders and employees and to have a visible ‘pro-active’ presence on and around [MetroLink’s] public facilities.”658 XIX. PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITIES’ LAW ENFORCEMENT ORGANIZATION AND CONTRACTUAL STRUCTURES, INCLUDING INTER-AGENCY AND INTER-FORCE AGREEMENTS Public transportation authorities have organizational and contractual structures that apply to or govern their policing, in- cluding inter-agency and inter-force agreements. The methods that public transportation authorities implement to organize and structure their law enforcement vary from agency to agency. Some public transportation authorities have promulgated rules that apply to their policing and myriad activities and situations that the authorities may confront.659 Some agencies have “their own security staff, while others contract with local departments or private security firms.”660 A System-Wide Security Assessment (Security Assessment or Assessment) conducted for MetroLink analyzed its security conditions based on the four principles of “Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design” (CPTED): 1. Natural Access Control – The physical guidance of people com- ing and going from a space by the judicial placement of entrances, exits, fencing, landscaping and lighting. 2. Natural Surveillance – The placement of physical features, activi- ties and people in such a way as to maximize safety. 3. Territorial Reinforcement – The use of physical attributes that express ownership, such as fences, pavement treatment, art,- signage, and landscape. 657 Introduction to Community Oriented Policing, U.S. Department of Justice Community Oriented Policing Services, at 10 (2005), https:// cop.spcollege.edu/Training/Intro/EN/IntroInstructor.pdf (last accessed Jan. 31, 2022). 658 MetroLink, Police Assistant Services Agreement (Jan. 1, 2020), [hereinafter MetroLink, Police Assistance Services Agreement], Appendix A, Item 7 (Exhibit B, at 10). 659 See MTA Rules of Conduct and Fines, supra note 586, § 1050.1(a). 660 Jason Plautz, Transit agencies weigh security forces amid calls to defund police, SmartCitiesDive, (June 25, 2020), https://www. smartcitiesdive.com/news/transit-agencies-weigh-security-forces- amid-calls-to-defund-police/580324/ (last accessed Jan. 31, 2022). The article states that Portland’s TriMet uses security personnel from 14 dif- ferent agencies. It may be noted that a Pennsylvania court has opined that “divided police responsibilities can result in new questions as to passenger safety and adequacy of protective forces or measures.” Rom- isher v. SEPTA, 1974 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 566, at *15, 65 Pa. D. & C.2d 483, 494 (1974). 4. Maintenance – Allows for the continued use of a space for its intended purpose. It serves as an additional expression of owner- ship, prevents reduction of visibility from landscaping overgrowth and obstructed or inoperative lighting.661 Applying CPTED’s four principles, the Security Assessment found, for example, that many of MetroLink’s physical assets reflected practices of the 1990s, which had not incorporated CPTED principles.662 The Security Assessment is informative in many respects. For example, it explains that [a] robust security program is layered and requires strategies that draw from all categories of recommendations: a security strategy that establishes the framework; CPTED principles that use space and human behavior to reinforce a secure environment; technology that enables efficient and effective prevention and response; police/ security staffing that collaborates to support system security; proce- dures and training that enable informed and skilled personnel; and fare and fare enforcement that contribute[] to positive interactions between the system, security personnel, and customers.663 The Assessment recommended that MetroLink have a “secu- rity design criteria resource” that would apply “consistent design principles” to MetroLink’s security.664 The Assessment con- cluded that some of MetroLink’s stations, assets, and activities arguably conveyed an impression of “lack of ownership,” thus communicating a message that could undermine the security of the system.665 The Assessment’s recommendations included upgrading of MetroLink’s technology, such as its CCTV camera network, coverage, and data-storage capability.666 The Assess- ment, which identified staffing as a promising area for the im- provement of security, recommended that training be focused “on the elements important for transit security.”667 XX. PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITIES’ AGREEMENTS AND STRATEGIES FOR EFFECTIVE ADMINISTRATION OF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND TRAINING Some public transportation authorities provided copies of their police assistance service agreements, intergovernmental agreements (IGA), memoranda of understanding (MOU), poli- cies, and standard operating procedures (SOP) that organize and implement their method of policing, copies of which are included in Appendix A to the digest. A. Agreements and Intergovernmental Agreements for Police Assistance Services MetroLink has a Police Assistance Services Agreement with the City of St. Louis, Missouri, Police Division, for police pro- 661 Metrolink, System-Wide Security Assessment, Recom- mendations (Feb. 15, 2019), Appendix A, Item 1, at 7. 662 Id. 663 Id. at 19. 664 Id. at 7. 665 Id. at 8. 666 Id. at 9. 667 Id. at 14-15.

TCRP LRD 58 47 tection and presence on MetroLink trains and property, which applies to MetroLink’s operation of its light rail system within the City of St. Louis and St. Louis County, Missouri, and St. Clair County, Illinois.668 Article IV of the Agreement specifies the ser- vices that the City’s Police Division will provide to MetroLink.669 TriMet in Oregon has entered into an IGA with Multnomah County through the Multnomah County Sheriff ’s Office (MCSO), i.e., the “Prime Agreement.”670 Pursuant to the IGA, the County provides police services to TriMet and administers the Transit Police Division. TriMet has separate IGAs, i.e., “Subsid- iary Agreements,” with other jurisdictions to provide law enforce- ment officers to the Transit Police Division.671 A similar IGA for transit police services is in effect between TriMet and the City of Beaverton.672 Although a copy of the TriMet- Multnomah County IGA is included in Appendix A, this subsection of the digest sum- marizes some of the key provisions of the IGA. Under TriMet’s IGA with the MCSO, which is an indepen- dent contractor, the MCSO retains “all authority” regarding the rendering of services, standards of performance, and the con- trol of its personnel and other matters that are incident to the MCSO’s performance of services under the agreement.673 The parties agree annually on the level of police service, including personnel, equipment, and related support, that MCSO will provide for TriMet.674 Officers, deputies, and other personnel of any Subsidiary Agency assigned to the Transit Police are em- ployees of their respective agencies and are not considered to be employees or agents of TriMet or the MCSO.675 The IGA obligates TriMet and MCSO to “work together to insure that the deployment and priorities of police person- nel assigned to TriMet [are] effective and efficient . . . in accor- dance with TriMet’s Public Transit Agency Safety Plan (PTASP), TriMet’s Security Management Plan (SMP), TriMet’s Emer gency Operations Plan (EOP), [and] Federal Transit Administration (FTA) regulations concerning safety and security of transit sys- tems….”676 The parties to the IGA and to any Subsidiary Agree- ment agree to use Transit Police precincts to “expand and enhance 668 MetroLink, Police Assistance Services Agreement, supra note 658, Appendix A, Item 7, at 1, 3. 669 Id. at 3. 670 TriMet, Intergovernmental Agreement between Multnomah County and the Tri-County Metropolitan Dis- trict of Oregon (April 7, 2021), [hereinafter TriMet/Multnomah IGA], Appendix A, Item 20. See also, exhibits and attachments to the IGA. 671 Id. at ¶ 2(a)(ii). It may be noted that “Multnomah County [is] named as a Third Party Beneficiary of the subsidiary agreements for purposes of the indemnity obligations imposed upon Subsidiary Agen- cies.” Id. 672 MetroLink, Law Enforcement Service Agreement between Bi-State Development Agency of the Missouri-Illinois Metropolitan District and St. Clair County, Illinois (commencing July 1, 2021), Appendix A, Item 9. 673 TriMet/Multnomah IGA, supra note 670, Appendix A, Item 20, at ¶ 2(a)(iii). 674 Id. at ¶ 2(b). 675 Id. 676 Id. at ¶ 3(a). community policing, safety and security on the transit system.”677 The Division’s command personnel super vise “ police personnel for the daily operations of the Transit Police.”678 The command of the officer’s or deputy’s jurisdiction and the command of Transit Police personnel jointly determine the “[s]election and assign- ment of officers and deputies to the Transit Police….”679 The MCSO agrees to provide one TriMet Chief of Police and one Lieutenant to “develop overall goals, objectives, and strate- gies for the Transit Police . . . consistent with the requirements and obligations” of the Agreement.680 Officers and deputies who are assigned to the Transit Police Division serve a minimum of three years.681 As for the use of non-sworn personnel, “TriMet authorizes the Transit Police to hire any necessary and appro- priate non-sworn personnel to support the duties of the Transit Police Chief in the administration of transit police services.”682 The MCSO is “responsible for paying the salaries, overtime, insurance, retirement, cell phone monthly bases, and other bene- fits” in respect to its deputies and other personnel who are serving in the Transit Police Division.683 Deputies and other personnel who are “assigned to the Division from MCSO are subject to and protected by their respective collective bargaining agreements.”684 As for vehicles for the Transit Police Division, TriMet agrees to purchase them for the exclusive use of TriMet and the Transit Police Division.685 TriMet is responsible for any risk of loss, damage, or destruction of the vehicles while they are “in the custody of MCSO personnel acting in the course and scope of employment.”686 The MCSO agrees to provide TriMet with “[c]rime statis- tics, based on the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) or other similar reporting system . . ., including but not limited to: (i) [g]eneral crime statistics on the system, including on TriMet vehicles, on TriMet property, and [on] crimes against employees and passengers.”687 Either TriMet or the MCSO may terminate the Agreement for either party’s “convenience and without penalty by giving the other Party thirty (30) days written notice of its intention to terminate.”688 The IGA includes mutual indemnification 677 Id. at ¶ 3(b). 678 Id. at ¶  3(d). The term “[c]ommand personnel” includes an MCSO Deputy Sheriff with the rank of Captain to serve as the TriMet Transit Police Chief, and lieutenants, and sergeants assigned under the Agreement. Id. 679 Id. at ¶ 3(f). 680 Id. at ¶ 3(g). 681 Id. at ¶ 3(i). 682 Id. at ¶ 3(g)(iv). 683 Id. at ¶  4(a). MCSO invoices “TriMet monthly for all actual incurred Personnel Costs for Division personnel services provided by MCSO.” Id. 684 Id. at ¶ 5. 685 Id. at ¶ 6. The vehicles are to be “marked with appropriate dis- tinctive insignia to indicate they are Transit Police vehicles.” Id. 686 Id. at ¶ 6(c). 687 Id. at ¶ 7(a)(i). 688 Id. at ¶ 11(a).

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Compliance with transit-equipment and operations guidelines, FTA financing initiatives, private-sector programs, and labor or environmental standards relating to transit operations are some of the legal issues and problems unique to transit agencies.

The TRB Transit Cooperative Research Program's TCRP Legal Research Digest 58: Policing and Public Transportation provides a comprehensive analysis of constitutional issues and summarizes current laws and practices that apply to policing by public transportation agencies.

Supplemental to the Digest is Appendix A: Agreements, Policies, Reports, and Other Documents Provided by Public Transportation Authorities for the Report.

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