Metro Board agrees to expand system to screen for weapons

The Metro Board of Directors voted Thursday to expand a pilot program deploying scanners to screen transit passengers for weapons.

Metro began the pilot program last August at Los Angeles Union Station and at the APU/Citrus College Station to test the effectiveness of screening systems. One of the systems had passengers walk through a set of sensors, while another used closed-circuit video feeds to detect people carrying weapons.

At the time Metro's publication The Sources stated: "We believe the presence of these detection units will serve as a deterrent and discourage individuals from bringing weapons onto our system."

According to county Supervisor and Metro Board member Janice Hahn, neither system detected any passengers carrying weapons during the five-month test, but the systems detected officers' service weapons "with 100% accuracy."

Robert Gummer, Metro's deputy chief of system security and law enforcement, told the board that security officers witnessed some people leaving the Metro stations when they saw or were told that the weapons- screening systems were in use, suggesting that the technology served as a deterrent to prevent people from carrying weapons onto the transit system.

Under the motion approved by the board, the pilot program will now expand to other "high-traffic transit stations" for a year. Metro will also conduct a year-long pilot test of detection technology on buses.

"You can't bring a weapon to a concert or a Dodger game, and you shouldn't be able to bring a weapon on Metro," Hahn said in a statement after the vote. "The weapons detection technology we are already testing at some Metro stations works and is showing promise in deterring people from even attempting to bring guns and knives onto Metro. Rider safety needs to be our priority, and it is time to put this technology in more stations."

Additional reporting by City News Service.