Metro Los Angeles is considering three options for systems to detect weapons waiting to choose the one that best suits their needs, officials from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said this Thursday.
The consideration of the different alternatives occurred a day after a public transportation agency bus was hijacked by an armed man who killed a passenger early this Wednesday in downtown Los Angeles.
“We are testing three different ideas for weapons detection technology and We’ll see which one works.“said Los Angeles County Supervisor and also President of the Metro Board, Janice Hahn, during this Thursday’s meeting.
The concern for strengthening security began since April after two crimes occurred on the transportation system.
In May, The Metro Board authorized increasing the number of police officersimplement a tap-to-exit pilot program (which is seen as a way to kick out non-ticket-paying passengers), and also agreed to install metal detectors in some parts of the system.
The mayor of Los Angeles and member of the Metro Board, Karen Bass, said this Thursday that I expected to see a report very soon on a weapons detection system with video analysis, which is being tested at Union Station, downtown.
“At the next Board meeting, we can get a report on that pilot program to see how quickly we can expand it to the entire system“Bass said.
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Metro has its sights on a system that is already being tested in Chicagowhich uses existing security cameras to scan public transport passengers, as well as artificial intelligence to identify a weapon.
The images obtained are verified by human personnel in a centralized control centerwhich decides if it is a weapon and provides a description of the suspect to authorities.
Subway Deputy Director of System Security and Law Enforcement Robert Gummer clarified that this system It could only be used in train stations or platformsbut not inside a bus, which does not have cameras or the wavelength to transmit images.
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In addition to the system being tested in Chicago, New York and Las Vegas, Gummer added that in Los Angeles Other metal detection systems will also be tested.
Metro mentioned that it has not been the only transportation agency that suffered an incident of this type, saying that in the recent four months Passenger bus hijackings were reported in three other cities.
In addition to the use of cameras or computers with artificial intelligence, Metro also consider a different type of security technology.
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In April, the Board approved accelerate the installation of reinforced plastic barriers to protect passenger bus operators.
During the kidnapping this Wednesday, the operator of the bus on line 81, whom the kidnapper pointed a gun at his head, was not removed from the driver’s seat because he was protected by the barrierHahn noted.
Furthermore, the driver could also activate a silent alarmto display the message: “Call 911” on the electronic sign at the top front of the bus.
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The president of the Metro Board said that It was the first time this emergency message was displayed on a Los Angeles passenger bus.which sparked multiple calls from people to the emergency number.
Because the Los Angeles Police Department knew the bus was hijacked, they were able to place spike strips to puncture the tires. After an hour, The transport stopped on Alameda Street, where the operator escaped through a window.
Inside the bus a man was found with multiple gunshot woundswho was rushed to a hospital, where it was determined that he had already died.
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A second passenger, along with the driver, were uninjured in this incident.
Police arrested Lamont Campbell, 51, who was charged on suspicion of murder.
Metro Los Angeles has already installed protective barriers in 851 of the 2,105 buses in its fleetwith 40% progress on the planned program, and it is expected that 100% of transport will be protected before the end of December.
Keep reading:
· Metro Los Angeles moves forward with plan to create its own police force
· Person stabbed to death after getting off a Metro bus in South Los Angeles
· Homeless woman attacks bus driver in downtown Los Angeles
