Transit Security in Times of Terrorism

North County Transit District in Oceanside, the operator of the Breeze bus service and the Coaster and Sprinter commuter train service recently cut back on security personnel at most of the transit centers they serve. As of July 31, the district no longer contracts with the San Diego Sheriff’s Department, a longtime provider of security to NCTD. Several weeks later, many of the transit officers employed by Heritage Security, another contracted provider of security, were laid off. The remaining transit officers now patrol only the Oceanside, Vista and Escondido Transit Centers.

Jan Caldwell, Public Affairs Officer from the San Diego Sheriff’s department said in an email, “North County Transit ceased utilizing the services of the San Diego Sheriff’s Department effective July 31, 2009. We were told this was due to budgetary concerns.”

“Security is a board priority,” replied North County Transit District, Board Chairman, Bob Campbell. “We are just trying to make sure we have an appropriate level of security in place consistent with budget and resource availability.”

The executive director of North County Transit, Matthew Tucker, gave some insight on the budget problem. The State of California has eliminated transit assistance for at least the next five years resulting in NCTD losing about $10.5 million annually. The downturn in the economy means the agency expects to have a decline in estimated sales tax revenue of approximately $14 million annually. The loss of revenues means that NCTD will receive about $25 million less than what we planned to receive about eighteen months ago. In regards to transit security he wrote, “We are reducing our security program costs by about 50%. At the same time, we are completing a review of our security program deployment strategy that I believe will support improved visibility on board and at stations for both the Sprinter and Coaster stations where we have the highest ridership and activity.”

The Department of Homeland Security and the FBI released a series of bulletins between Friday, September 18, and Monday, September 22, to law enforcement agencies around the country asking them to contact local transit systems, popular hotels and sports arenas reminding them to be vigilant of possible terrorist activity.

These bulletins were released due to the arrest of three people in connection with an investigation into possible terrorist activity in the New York City area. A raid on an apartment in New York visited by one of the persons arrested, turned up some backpacks and cell phones. Government officials pointed out that cell phones and backpacks were used in previous terror attacks on transit systems in Madrid and London.

According to the Justice Department, the three people arrested have only been charged with lying to the Federal Government. An official at the DHS said, “There is no specific target or threat.”

The NCTD security office in Oceanside and Escondido is staffed twenty-four hours a day and they monitor all the north county transit centers by camera.

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