The TriMet board of directors meeting Wednesday began with a Portland woman who was on the MAX train May 26 where police said a known extremist stabbed three men, killing two, in what began as a racist tirade. The agency, she said, needs more security to deal with those kinds of threats.
The meeting ended, at least temporarily, when anti-police protesters interrupted the meeting, demanding more discussion of police presence on the system. They wanted the agency to reverse its response to the stabbing, which included beefing up police patrols.
The scene illustrates the dilemma the transit agency faces. Those who spoke agree there isn’t enough security to make riders feel safe. But vocal critics — a loose coalition of riders, union employees and police accountability activists — say the presence of police officers make riders, and especially members of minority groups, feel less safe.
Amy Farrara, said she was on the train as Jeremy Christian yelled epithets at two women, one black and one Muslim. The driver came on the public-address system to warn Christian police would be called, she said, then exited the operator’s cabin just in time to witness the stabbing.
As the incident played out, the operator was the only TriMet staffer in sight, Farrara said, and he appeared ill equipped to intervene.
“I don’t plan on getting back on a MAX train in some time, or ever. I want to help others make sure there’s safety on the train,” she told the TriMet board. “There should have been someone else there to diffuse the situation.”
TriMet has increased its security presence in the aftermath of the attack. It’s assigned more armed police officers, as well as unarmed but uniformed security guards and supervisors, to ride MAX trains in an effort to make riders feel safer.
But that’s prompted a backlash from groups that had protested TriMet’s relationship with police.
The agency contracts with local police agencies for a corps of 61 transit police officers, which is overseen by the Portland Police Bureau. In May, before the high-profile stabbing, TriMet’s board approved a budget that included $10 million in funding for a new transit police precinct to replace a leased facility.
Those critics have said Transit Police target non-white riders. They point to studies that show black riders are more likely to be banned from the system, or to face criminal charges after instances of fare evasion, which is usually treated as a minor violation.
The Amalgamated Transit Union has advocated for a decreased police presence, instead preferring an increase in unarmed fare checkers, who are union employees. The union’s membership have been particularly concerned about a recent increase in attacks on drivers, but its leaders have said police “intimidate the public” and are slow to respond in emergencies.
Bus Riders Unite, a group of rider-activists, has pushed for “rider ambassadors,” who would be unarmed but equipped with radios to summon police as needed.
“We do need something more than we have now,” said David Bouchard, a leader of the group. “We don’t necessarily need more armed police.”
TriMet previously had a “rider ambassador” program where volunteers rode bus lines to answer questions and act as the agency’s eyes and ears, TriMet spokeswoman Roberta Altstadt said. The program was ended, she said, because of “behavior issues” on the part of some volunteers.
The meeting was disrupted when Mimi German, a frequent protester at Portland City Council meetings, interrupted to demand more discussion on the topic of police accountability.
The meeting came a week after a Multnomah County grand jury found no criminal wrongdoing by a Transit Police police officer who shot and killed a man holding a utility knife. The incident started at a transit station in Southeast Portland, where the man, 24-year-old Terrell Kyreem Johnson, was described as “acting erratically.”
Board chairman Bruce Warner declared the protesters to be trespassing and suspended the meeting, prompting a brief standoff between German and other protesters and TriMet’s private security officers, who warned the protesters would be arrested.
German eventually left the room and met outside the building with John Gardner, TriMet’s director of diversity and transit equity, who invited the group to a private meeting later.
That initial discussion was productive, German said afterward, and the protesters support some of the efforts Gardner raised.
“We need to be at the table,” she said. “The next step is to go to the meeting and see if what he’s saying is actually happening.”
TriMet officials say they’re trying to strike a balance between armed police and unarmed security personnel. The agency has hired additional fare inspectors and, in the wake of the May stabbing, is continuing its show of security presence on trains.
Transit Police officers will continue working overtime indefinitely, Altstadt said, while 20 contract security officers hired after the May 26 attack will continue working for the agency for the next four to six months.
The agency was also scheduled to release new crime and safety statistics on Wednesday, but the presentation was delayed because of discrepancies in the numbers, the agency said. The release, usually in April, was already delayed because TriMet is moving to a new reporting methodology.
