Last week, I wrote a post wondering if SEPTA had enough police officers patrolling the system to protect people riding public transit. There have been several well-publicized robberies and assaults over the past few weeks-- including one incident that ended with the victim dying as result of a massive asthma attack.
So, do we have enough transit cops keeping an eye on things? It appears that the answer is no. Yesterday, SEPTA officials announced that they would be hiring more security personal. From the Daily News:
Starting immediately, 30 additional SEPTA police officers will be paid overtime to work throughout the transit system between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. That brings to 90 the number of officers on patrol during the hours when more than 55,000 children are traveling home from school, said Jim Jordan, head of SEPTA security.
According to an article in the Inquirer, the overtime is expected to cost about $17,000 per week. In addition to beefing up patrols, SEPTA also said that it would be looking into ways to speed up the installation of security cameras in stations around the city. One SEPTA board member, Christian DiCicco, believes the solution is to hire an additional 50 transit police over the next two years at a cost of about $2.85 million.