See what CATS and CMPD are doing to keep passengers on the light rail safe.
CHARLOTTE -- A new Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department patrol unit will guard the lines of the light rail system starting this November, when the blue lynx line opens with seven officers solely dedicated to keeping the passengers safe.
“With the new light rail line opening, there’s been and addition of seven CMPD officers who are going to ride on the trains to provide security on the platforms and the trains themselves,” said Officer Mark Jadlocki with the CMPD transit patrol unit.
The seven new officers will more than double the size of the transit patrol unit, with most being stationed on the line.
“You’re going to get the loitering, panhandling, people trespassing, that type of thing,” said Jadlocki in regards to the types of issues he thinks the staff will be dealing with.
Seven officers will make up the unit.
With 16 trains and 9.5-miles of track, the seven officers won’t be able to cover everything, 24-hours a day. They just want passengers and would-be criminals to know that they are always being watched.
“Each one of the platforms has cameras on each end,” said Jadlocki. “So at this one there's four right now. They're all tied into a monitoring system back at CATS, so we can see what's going on before we're dispatched out here."
There are also cameras on each of the trains, with another set of eyes watching the cameras at the CATS operations center.
“We want everyone to feel safe, feel secure, and be able to enjoy using mass transit,” said Jadlocki.
The seven officers were relocated from other parts of the city.