Photo by M.V. Jantzen.

Representatives from WMATA on the Hill again this afternoon, speaking to the subcommittee which oversees the District about a variety of issues, including the next round of federal funding for the transit system and the progress Metro’s made after 2009 crash outside Fort Totten.

But one topic of conversation caught our eye — while Metropolitan Police Department Chief Cathy Lanier was talking about safety concerns, she noted that the Metro Transit Police has 450 officers on the books. Compare that to MPD, which employs somewhere around 3,800, depending on whose numbers you’re using. Obviously, MTP officers are patrolling a smaller geographic area than the city’s police force is, but that’s a pretty small number.

Given that figure, it’s easy to see how the transit police force might be stretched. The Examiner reported yesterday afternoon that MTP has responded to 339 calls regarding “a suspicious person, package, bomb threat or similar condition” so far in 2011.

“I can’t imagine how [Metro Transit Police] Chief [Michael] Taborn does his job with the size of force he has,” Lanier testified.