November 13, 2006
Metro Crime Emergency?
Anyone who rides Metrobuses knows they can sometimes be like a war zone. Crowded aisles, erratic schedules, and that smelly guy next to you have been known to fuel hot tempers in weary riders. Fortunately, these encounters rarely escalate beyond harsh words or rolled eyes. However, it went far beyond that Saturday night on the 92 bus traveling to Congress Heights along Good Hope Road in Southeast.
As we mentioned earlier this morning, two groups of teenagers began attacking each other and the bus itself with bricks and shovels, according to ABC 7 News. After activating a silent alarm, the frightened driver got off the bus to escape the fighting. One of the group, a 15 year-old boy, then hijacked the bus and drove it five blocks (to get it out of harm’s way, he later said) until cornered by police.
There's no word as to what provoked the attack, or why these kids had bricks and shovels on the bus in the first place (Food and drink? Not so fast. Bricks and shovels? Climb aboard!). However early reports indicate that the fight spilled onto the bus from the street. With only one suspect in custody, Metro Police has asked that anyone with information about the fight contact them at 202-962-2121.
This incident also brings up the larger issue of what can be done to fight crime on Metro, which has been increasing in recent months. A horrifying protracted mugging on the Red Line last November grimly illustrated the difficulty Metro Police have responding to crimes in progress on trains moving through a labyrinth of tunnels.
Saturday's incident shows that bus riders are just as vulnerable, with thousands of buses winding through miles of isolated neighborhoods and city streets. While police arrived at the scene quickly this weekend, the group still caused thousands of dollars in damage, and it is a miracle that no passengers were hurt. As the only authority figures who can intervene in such situations, bus drivers are neither trained nor equipped to deal with such violence. Posting police on buses like they are in rail stations seems equally impractical, leaving few options.
A final note to the D.C. Council, should it decide to intervene in this "Metro Crime Emergency": No, crime cameras on buses (a la our junior high school bus) and curfews for juvenile riders aren't going to help.
Screenshot taken from the ABC 7 website.
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"This incident also brings up the larger issue of what can be done to fight crime on Metro, which has been increasing in recent months"
Seems to me this is best viewed as part of the larger and more-discussed issue of youth crime in the city.
Why did the driver leave the keys in the bus!?! Lucky the kid didn't decide to *ahem* "ghost ride the whip".
Crowded aisles, bad schedules and BO make a war zone? Tone down the hyperbole..
Silent alarm, huh? That's pretty cool. They really really need one of those for metrorail. The last time I encountered a huge crazy guy on the metro, I am quite sure he would have gone apeshit if we had overtly called the police. Maybe we need a number at which police can be text messaged.
Anyone know if there is some way for the authorities to quickly tell where a specific rail car number is?
i used to ride the 42 or sometimes the s1 or s2 lines downtown. both were crowded, but nice. i moved recently and now take the G2. letmetell there is a WORLD of difference. the 42 had mostly professionals and an older crowd. people with jobs. the G2 has high school punks who are loud, rude, and annoying. they make life on that bus route hell. the girls are as bad as the boys. after 6 months, i went ahead and bought a scooter. no way could i take riding around with those monsters anymore. you're right though, the bus driver is not trained to handle these things, as for keys, screw that, my butt would have jumped ship too if all hell was breaking loose. oh, and there are cameras on the busses already. maybe not all, but some.
"No, crime cameras on buses...aren't going to help."
Why not? I think cameras on the buses would be far more effective than crime cameras at given intersections. I think they could possibly help ID anyone committing a crime on a bus, just like security cameras at ATMs, banks tellers, and convenience store registers have helped indentify criminals over and over again. And it isn't like there are just too many buses to put cameras in, afterall there are far fewer Metro buses than ATMs, bank tellers and convenience stores.
What evidence is this concluding statement based on?
"No, crime cameras on buses (a la our junior high school bus) and curfews for juvenile riders aren't going to help."
I've been riding the bus for five years now (42, 52-54 and S series, now the 30 series), and I would wager that at least 50 percent of the problems on the buses has to do with kids who basically don't give a shit about anyone else, and drivers that are powerless to do anything about it. The kids don't care because they know they won't be punished, even if they are caught. The District's juvenile crime laws need serious reform. Right now, they're regarded as a joke by both the police and the kids committing the crimes.
*Somebody* doesn't like *certain* people riding da bus. What kind of certain people. Hmmm...maybe the upwardly mobile? Be afraid! Be VERY afraid! Boo!
"*Somebody* doesn't like *certain* people riding da bus. What kind of certain people. Hmmm...maybe the upwardly mobile? Be afraid! Be VERY afraid! Boo!"
People are upset because violent bullies are asserting control over a critical public resource. It's not economic class or skin color that's getting raised as an issue, it's rotten, unacceptable behavior.
Take your simplistic, identity-baiting politics and stuff it.
So maybe busdrivers NEED to be trained and equipped to handle these situations? And what happened to throwing people off the bus for being jackasses? Paying a fare isn't a license to be a loudmouthed violent jerk. One warning, and you're off at the next intersection and you get to walk your sorry ass off.
MK said: Maybe we need a number at which police can be text messaged.
I'm with you on that. Make it real simple, like BUS 9501 BULLY or TRAIN 6502 EATING. Using bus and train numbers would take the hassle out of trying to type in RED LINE TO GROSVENOR AT JUDICIARY SQUARE THIRD CAR or 13B BUS TO PENTAGON AT CONSTITUTION AVE AND 10TH ST. Then, the only thing Metro Police would have to do is catch up to that bus or train, board it, have a look, and take it from there. (Assuming, of course, they could find the vehicle in question on the system.)
To make it work, bus and train numbers would have to be posted more prominently than they are now.
Why isn't anyone focusing on the boy who took the wheel of the bus? He drove the bus AWAY and OUT of the dangerous situation, because the ADULT bus driver bailed on the kids. I think the bus driver should be fired, or at least severely reprimanded. They already knew of the danger inherent on that particular bus route. The boy who drove the bus (who leaves keys in a running vehicle???) should not punished; rather, he behaved in a very mature, even heroic way - and single handedly averted an even more dangerous situation between two gangs.
The article describes fighting on the bus, not outside the bus. I'm not sure how moving the bus changed the situation at all (except perhaps making it harder for police to find the bus).
If the article is incorrect on the facts, that certainly changes things. However, based on the linked article, it seems like the kid saw an opportunity to take a bus for a joyride and took it.
Yes, fighting was happening outside the bus. However, that fighting was directly involving the passengers ON the bus. Windows were being broken on passengers - shovels and boards from a construction dumpster being used to break windows. And gunshots were being fired. Wouldn't you want to get the heck out of the area too? I guess moving the bus out of the dangerous situation outside the bus was the SMART thing to do.
So an investigation is called for. Whatever the result, the kid who drove the bus didn't do the worst thing done that day.
I very much want to see kids who behave criminally made more concretely aware of the consequences for their future. It's pretty clear some of them just don't get it, and it's important for everyone that they do.
Increased focus on holding the parents accountable should also be explored. I can only surmise that the fine to the parents for their children violating the summer curfew is what made it the relative success it was. Thus, enlist the parents as willing (or coerced) allies.