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In a bold move aimed at bolstering public safety, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) responded vigorously to the Chicago Transit Authority’s (CTA) recent security proposal. On Friday, the FTA delivered a clear ultimatum: beef up the safety measures or risk losing a substantial chunk of federal funding.
The FTA’s response was unequivocal. They have given the CTA a 90-day deadline to present a more robust security plan. Failure to meet this demand could result in the withholding of up to $50 million in federal funds, a significant financial penalty that underscores the seriousness of the situation.
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Marc Molinaro, the FTA Administrator, was candid in his assessment. “This ‘plan’ fails to measurably reduce incidents of assaults and improve overall safety on buses and trains. If people’s safety is at risk, so are federal funds. CTA must act to save lives and improve safety,” he stated, emphasizing the urgency for improved safety measures.
This development occurs amidst an increased presence of Chicago police officers patrolling the city’s transit system. The CTA had earlier submitted its new safety strategy to the federal government, which includes a call for heightened police and private security efforts across the third-largest public transit network in the United States.
A key element of the CTA’s proposal is the expansion of a voluntary program that permits officers to patrol the transit system during their off-duty hours. This initiative aims to raise the number of off-duty officers on patrol from an average of 77 to 120 daily, a step seen as crucial in enhancing the overall security landscape.
The plan expands a voluntary program, allowing officers to sign up to patrol the CTA on their days off, increasing the average from 77 off-duty officers per day to 120.
K-9 security staffing will also increase from 172 to 188 units.
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Earlier this week, Superintendent Larry Snelling sat down with the ABC7 Chicago I-Team to talk CTA safety.
“We need to find a way to keep people who are offending on the CTA, who are acting out violently against other people,” Snelling said. “We need to find a way to keep those people away from CTA.”
But, not everyone is fully sold on the plan just yet.
The president of the union representing CTA workers says he’s been calling for these upped security measures for years and remains skeptical of whether it will keep people and workers safe.
The CTA never specified where the increased security presence would be, but did say the agency is working with CPD to strategically deploy the added resources based on crime data.
