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Metro Transit Security Assessment
Since March 2018, we have been working closely with our partners at the East-West Gateway Council of Governments, St. Louis County Police Department, St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, St. Clair County Sheriff’s Department, and security consultant WSP-USA to enhance safety and security efforts on the Metro Transit system and address regional concerns.
Using data, insights and recommendations developed through a system-wide security assessment, we have made improvements and enhancements to our approach to transit safety and security over the past two years, and will continue to make progress throughout 2020.
Read about the Metro Security Assessment and Strategy and the implementation of recommendations that are improving safety on the system.
Metro Security Scorecard
This scorecard provides a mechanism to track Metro’s progress toward implementing the comprehensive security strategy in each of six categories: Security Strategy, Police & Security Staffing, Procedures & Training, Fare & Fare Enforcement, Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED), and Technology.
Download the booklet of Metro’s current scorecard and progress in each category (PDF)
MetroLink Task Force Reports
Nothing is more important than your safety. We are constantly upgrading and improving our safety and security measures while continuing to deliver the reliable, efficient service riders expect.
Ridership safety and security information prior to January 2021 is available on our Community Reports Archive page.
The information provided below is “unofficial’ and not jurisdictional specific. Details or specifics related to the information would need to be obtained by contacting the individual police departments (St. Louis County, St. Louis City, and St. Clair County) for any “official” data.
Task Force Incidents |
||
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 2021 | |
| Quarter 1 | 206 | 139 |
| Quarter 2 | 68 | 143 |
| Quarter 3 | 128 | 153 |
| Quarter 4 | 103 |
Offense Types
- COVID-19 reached the Bi-State region mid/late March 2020. MetroLink ridership decreased during Q2 & Q3 as many schools/businesses closed or operated remotely.
- Police limited exposure to the virus by reducing patrols and focusing on dispatched calls for service. The decrease in ridership and the reduction of proactive policing resulted in fewer incident reports for Q3 2020
- MetroLink boardings increased 15%
- Incidents per MetroLink boarding is .00009 (9 incidents per 100,000 boardings)
- 65% of incident reports were the result of self initiation/proactive policing
- Weapon violations account for 20% of the violent offense types Likely the result of proactive initiatives targeting known ‘hot spots.’
- The majority of standard of conduct offenses are drug, trespassing, and ordinance violations.
MetroLink Task Force Incidents
St. Louis County Incidents |
||
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 2021 | |
| Quarter 1 | 111 | 84 |
| Quarter 2 | 18 | 91 |
| Quarter 3 | 76 | 92 |
| Quarter 4 | 63 |
Offense Types
- St. Louis County MetroLink boardings increased 11%
- Incident per MetroLink boarding is .00016 (16 incidents per 100,000 MetroLink Boardings)
Incidents by Station
| MetroLink Station | 2020 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|
| Shrewsbury | 1 | |
| Sunnen | 3 | |
| Maplewood | 1 | |
| Brentwood | 2 | 2 |
| Richmond Heights | 2 | |
| Clayton | 2 | 4 |
| Forsyth | 2 | |
| U-City/Big Bend | 1 | |
| Skinker | ||
| Forest Park | 2 | |
| Lambert Main | 2 | 1 |
| Lambert East | ||
| North Hanley | 57 | 58 |
| UMSL North | 1 | |
| UMSL South | 1 | 3 |
| Rock Road | 7 | 8 |
| Wellston | 2 | 3 |
| Delmar Loop | 3 | |
| TOTAL | 76 | 92 |
St. Louis County Incidents
St. Louis City Incidents |
||
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 2021 | |
| Quarter 1 | 36 | 21 |
| Quarter 2 | 22 | 10 |
| Quarter 3 | 15 | 20 |
| Quarter 4 | 19 |
Offense Types
- St. Louis City MetroLink boardings increased 20%
- Incident per MetroLink boarding is .00003 (3 incidents per 100,000 MetroLink Boardings)
Incidents by Station
| MetroLink Station | 2020 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|
| Shrewsbury | 1 | |
| Skinker | ||
| Delmar Loop | 1 | |
| Forest Park | 6 | 3 |
| Central West End | 2 | 4 |
| Cortex | 2 | 2 |
| Grand | 3 | 3 |
| Union Station | 1 | |
| Civic Center | 1 | 1 |
| Stadium | 1 | |
| 8th & Pine | 1 | |
| Convention Center | 1 | |
| Landing | 2 | |
| TOTAL | 15 | 20 |
St. Louis City Incidents
St. Clair County Incidents |
||
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 2021 | |
| Quarter 1 | 59 | 34 |
| Quarter 2 | 28 | 42 |
| Quarter 3 | 36 | 41 |
| Quarter 4 | 21 |
Offense Types
- St. Clair County MetroLink boardings increased 11%
- Incident per MetroLink boarding is .00011 (11 incidents per 100,000 MetroLink Boardings)
Incidents by Station
| MetroLink Station | 2020 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|
| East River Front | 2 | 2 |
| 5th & Missouri | 6 | 8 |
| Emerson Park | 4 | 8 |
| Jackie Joyner-Kersee | 2 | 2 |
| Washington Park | 3 | 2 |
| Fairview Heights | 11 | 16 |
| Memorial Hospital | 2 | 1 |
| Swansea | 1 | |
| Belleville | 1 | |
| College | 1 | |
| Shiloh-Scott | 5 | |
| Alignment | ||
| TOTAL | 36 | 41 |
St. Clair County Incidents
Task Force Incidents |
||
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 2021 | |
| Quarter 1 | 206 | 139 |
| Quarter 2 | 68 | 143 |
| Quarter 3 | 128 | |
| Quarter 4 | 103 |
Offense Types
- MetroLink boardings increased 18%
- Incidents per MetroLink boarding is .00010 (10 incidents per 100,000 boardings)
- 57 of incident reports were the result of self-initiation/pro-active policing
- Weapon violations account for 61 of the violent offense types. Likely the result of pro-active initiatives targeting known ‘hot spots’
- The majority of standard of conduct offenses are drug and fare violations
MetroLink Task Force Incidents
St. Louis County Incidents |
||
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 2021 | |
| Quarter 1 | 111 | 84 |
| Quarter 2 | 18 | 91 |
| Quarter 3 | 76 | |
| Quarter 4 | 63 |
Offense Types
- St. Louis County MetroLink boardings increased 13%
- Incident per MetroLink boarding is .00018 (18 incidents per 100,000 MetroLink boardings)
Incidents by Station
| MetroLink Station | 2020 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|
| Shrewsbury | 2 | |
| Sunnen | 2 | |
| Maplewood | 1 | 3 |
| Brentwood | 1 | |
| Richmond Heights | 1 | |
| Clayton | 2 | 3 |
| Forsyth | 1 | |
| U-City/Big Bend | ||
| Skinker | ||
| Lambert Main | 1 | |
| Lambert East | ||
| North Hanley | 10 | 54 |
| UMSL North | ||
| UMSL South | 9 | |
| Rock Road | 7 | |
| Wellston | 2 | 7 |
| Delmar Loop | 1 | |
| Alignment | 2 | |
| Total | 18 | 91 |
St. Louis County Incidents
St. Louis City Incidents |
||
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 2021 | |
| Quarter 1 | 36 | 21 |
| Quarter 2 | 22 | 10 |
| Quarter 3 | 16 | |
| Quarter 4 | 19 |
Offense Types
- St. Louis City MetroLink boardings increased 25%
Incident per MetroLink boarding is .00002 (2 incidents per 100,000 MetroLink boardings)
Incidents by Station
| MetroLink Station | 2020 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|
| Shrewsbury | 1 | |
| Skinker | 1 | |
| Delmar Loop | 1 | |
| Forest Park | 4 | 1 |
| Central West End | 3 | 1 |
| Cortex | 1 | |
| Grand | 5 | 2 |
| Union Station | 1 | |
| Civic Center | 5 | 1 |
| Stadium | 1 | |
| 8th & Pine | 1 | |
| Convention Center | ||
| Landing | 2 | 1 |
| Total | 22 | 10 |
St. Louis City Incidents
St. Clair County Incidents |
||
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 2021 | |
| Quarter 1 | 59 | 34 |
| Quarter 2 | 28 | 42 |
| Quarter 3 | 36 | |
| Quarter 4 | 21 |
Offense Types
- St. Clair County MetroLink boardings decreased 13%
- Incident per MetroLink boarding is .00013 (13 Incidents per 100,000 MetroLink boardings)
Incidents by Station
| MetroLink Station | 2020 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|
| East Riverfront | 1 | 2 |
| 5th & Missouri | 4 | 9 |
| Emerson Park | 4 | 7 |
| Jackie Joyner-Kersee | 2 | 1 |
| Washington Park | 2 | 4 |
| Fairview Heights | 8 | 13 |
| Memorial Hospital | ||
| Swansea | 1 | 1 |
| Belleville | 1 | 3 |
| College | 1 | |
| Shiloh-Scott | 2 | 1 |
| Alignment | 3 | |
| Total | 28 | 42 |
St. Clair County Incidents
Task Force Incidents |
||
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 2021 | |
| Quarter 1 | 206 | 139 |
| Quarter 2 | 68 | |
| Quarter 3 | 128 | |
| Quarter 4 | 103 |
Offense Types
- MetroLink boardings decreased 55%
- Incident per MetroLink boardings is .00011 (11 Incidents per 100,000 MetroLink Boardings)
MetroLink Task Force Incidents
St. Louis County Incidents |
||
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 2021 | |
| Quarter 1 | 111 | 84 |
| Quarter 2 | 18 | |
| Quarter 3 | 76 | |
| Quarter 4 | 63 |
Offense Types
- St. Louis County Metrolink boardings decreased 54%
- Incident per MetroLink boarding is .00019 (19 incidents per 100,000 MetroLink Boardings)
Incidents by Station
| MetroLink Station | 2020 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|
| Shrewsbury | 2 | 1 |
| Sunnen | 1 | |
| Maplewood | 1 | |
| Brentwood | 10 | 1 |
| Richmond Heights | 7 | 1 |
| Clayton | 1 | 1 |
| Forsyth | 1 | 1 |
| U-City/Big Bend | 1 | |
| Skinker | 1 | |
| Lambert Main | 7 | 1 |
| Lambert East | ||
| North Hanley | 48 | 56 |
| UMSL North | 4 | |
| UMSL South | 9 | 4 |
| Rock Road | 19 | 13 |
| Wellston | 1 | 3 |
| Total | 111 | 84 |
St. Louis County Incidents
St. Louis City Incidents |
||
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 2021 | |
| Quarter 1 | 36 | 21 |
| Quarter 2 | 22 | |
| Quarter 3 | 16 | |
| Quarter 4 | 19 |
Offense Types
- St. Louis City MetroLink boardings decreased 58%
- Incident per MetroLink boardings is .00004 (4 Incidents per 100,000 MetroLink Boardings)
Incidents by Station
| MetroLink Station | 2020 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|
| Shrewsbury | 2 | |
| Skinker | 1 | |
| Delmar Loop | 5 | 2 |
| Forest Park | 7 | 4 |
| Central West End | 4 | |
| Cortex | 1 | 2 |
| Grand | 4 | 6 |
| Union Station | 3 | |
| Civic Center | 6 | 4 |
| Stadium | ||
| 8th & Pine | 1 | |
| Convention Center | 1 | |
| Landing | 2 | 1 |
| MetroBus | 1 | |
| Total | 36 | 21 |
St. Louis City Incidents
St. Clair County Incidents |
||
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 2021 | |
| Quarter 1 | 59 | 34 |
| Quarter 2 | 28 | |
| Quarter 3 | 36 | |
| Quarter 4 | 21 |
Offense Types
- St. Clair County MetroLink boardings decreased 51%
- Incident per MetroLink boarding is .00013 (13 Incidents per 100,000 MetroLink Boardings)
Incidents by Station
| MetroLink Station | 2020 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|
| East Riverfront | 4 | 2 |
| 5th & Missouri | 6 | 2 |
| Emerson Park | 14 | 5 |
| Jackie Joyner-Kersee | 7 | 1 |
| Washington Park | 5 | 3 |
| Fairview Heights | 14 | 13 |
| Memorial Hospital | 2 | 2 |
| Swansea | 1 | 1 |
| Belleville | 1 | 2 |
| College | 2 | 1 |
| Shiloh-Scott | 2 | 2 |
| Alignment | 1 | |
| Total | 59 | 34 |
St. Clair County Incidents
Definitions:
Incident: an event where one or more offenses are committed by the same offender(s) at the same time & location.
Incident Report: unofficial documentation of a security-related incident, completed by officers on the MetroLink Task Force; not the official crime report.
Offense: criminal offense(s) that occur during an incident.
Offense Types:
Standard of Conduct Violations: crimes that are less serious, but that profoundly affect passengers’ perception of security and that consume a disproportionate amount of time and resources available to transit police and security forces (e.g., curfew & loitering laws, disorderly conduct, fare evasion, drug abuse violations, driving under the influence, drunkenness, sex offenses, trespassing).
Property Crimes: crimes that involve the property of the transit agency or the personal property of passengers & employees property (e.g., arson, burglary, larceny/theft, motor vehicle theft, vandalism).
Violent Crimes: all crimes that passengers/employees generally consider a potential threat to their personal safety (e.g., assault, homicide, rape, robbery, suicide/attempted suicide, weapons violation).
Proactive Policing: police work that deters crime, reduces disorder, reduces fear of crime, or remedies specific concerns in a given area; police action that occurs before a crime is committed