PORTLAND, Ore. — TriMet continues to make strides in ensuring rider safety for those using their transportation by installing blue-light security phones at MAX platforms and launching their 24/7 Security Operations Center.
Last week, TriMet began adding blue-light security phones to some MAX station platforms, starting with the Rose Quarter MAX platform, as well as to the Convention Center platform. They plan to have a total of 14 blue-light phones installed in this first rollout phase, with all of them being up and operating by the end of November. They will first be installed between Rose Quarter and Gateway.
“This is an actual way for you to get a hold of directly the Security Operations Center. If you press that button, you’re going to be put in touch with folks that are there 24 hours a day to address the security concerns that are out there on the system,” said Andrew Wilson, the chief safety officer and executive director for safety and security at TriMet.
The phone works both ways. It has a camera, so if dispatchers see anything suspicious or dangerous, they can speak to whoever is close enough to hear the speaker.
These dispatchers are in the Security Operations Center, which officially launched in September.
Wilson describes it as a “nerve center,” where all the agency’s security resources will be unified under and where the various TriMet safety and security groups can be dispatched.
“Twenty-four hours a day, we have a Security Operations Center that has live-view access for over 3,000 cameras, so that's a powerful response,” he said.
He said when riders call, someone will be there to answer.
“There’s going to be a response, and that response could include the dispatching of one of our resources, those 475 personnel that we have out working on the system,” said Wilson.
He said as for how fast actual physical response times will be, that is up to the resources they have available.
For many riders, there’s been numerous safety concerns when it comes with riding TriMet in recent years due to crime and drug use.
“I just got off the MAX earlier, and they just had to take somebody off because he was doing stuff he wasn’t supposed to do on the MAX,” said Isis Johnson, a TriMet rider who said she’s seen safety worsen over the last few years. She said more cameras helps her feel safe.
Kent Senffner, another rider, told KGW that although he’s never had an issue on a bus or train that the driver couldn’t handle, his son often takes public transportations, and he thinks the surveillance is also good for safety.
Wilson said with these developments, riders have better tools to contact TriMet for those nuisance-type security issues, which most of the complaints they receive stem from.
He also encouraged people to call or text the center at 503-238-7433 (RIDE) and press 9 if they want to make a report.
“We’ve been improving safety for several years now; we’re going to continue to do that, and there will be more to come,” said Wilson.