Video ID: End of the Line for Light Rail Attackers
In recent months, Twin Cities’ Metro Transit Police have been using every tool at their disposal as they face a significant increase in reported violence on public transportation. Serious crimes, such as robberies, aggravated assaults and theft, were up 35% from 2018 causing concern to riders and officials alike. In response, the agency implemented a proactive policing initiative which added extra officers and real-time surveillance monitoring of light-rail trains, buses, platforms and stations. Last month, those efforts began to pay off.
In early December, a group of teens boarded a Twin Cities’ Metro Transit light-rail car and attacked a group of passengers, physically injuring several riders including some who attempted to stop the violence. Then the attackers fled the train at another stop and proceeded to assault a man on the street before slipping into a nearby restaurant. After reviewing footage from cameras on the train and MPS surveillance trailers deployed near the platforms, officers were able to act quickly and arrest several of the suspects as they left the restaurant. They were also able to link some of the suspects to assaults that had been reported several weeks earlier on another line.
“…a man leaving the nearby Culver’s reported an assault by the same group. Thanks to surveillance cameras on the train and platforms, responding officers identified the six suspects. They made three arrests at the scene and a fourth in recent days.”
—Spokesperson for the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office*
To learn more about the MPS camera trailers used by Twin Cities Metro Transit Police and many other law enforcement agencies, call 952-324-5656 today.
*Kent Erdahl, “Teens arrested in light rail assaults”, NBC KARE11, December 10, 2019. See full online article here.