MetroLink hires four additional police departments to police St. Clair County

Four cities in the Metro-East area have begun adding additional police officers to patrol around MetroLink stations.

As part of an agreement between Bi-State Development, the operator of the region’s light rail system, and the St. Clair County Transit District, police departments in Belleville, Fairview Heights, Shiloh and Swansea began allowing off-duty officers to monitor area train platforms and parking lots last month.

The new patrols are a proactive approach to deterring crime and improving the sense of safety in the public transportation system, Kevin Scott, Bi-State’s general manager of safety, said Friday.

“We will never stop increasing police presence in the system,” Scott said at a press conference in Fairview Heights announcing the initiative. “We will continue to be creative and expand this exact model – which starts here in St. Clair County – across the river and the entire system.”

The officers, who can volunteer for duty, will join a 15-person team from the St. Clair County Sheriff’s Department that already provides full-time patrol of the light rail system in the Metro East. On the Missouri side of the Mississippi, the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and the St. Louis County Police Department have similar detail.

Bi-State leaders like Scott and Taulby Roach, the president and CEO, view this agreement in the Metro East as a pilot program. Bi-State will look to replicate the program elsewhere.

St. Clair County Transit District pays overtime for the officials within the framework of the agreements with the four departments.

Officials are allowed to work a maximum of 30 additional hours per week. Since the work Although the patrols are voluntary, Scott said he does not know exactly how many officers will patrol.

MetroLink has been in the public spotlight because of violent crimes in and around the public transportation system. Local officials hope the additional officers will solve that problem.

“It is important that people feel safe and secure when they ride our train,” said Mark Kern, chairman of the St. Clair County Board.

Friday’s announcement comes two weeks after St. Clair County officials and leaders from both states publicly unveiled a new $15 million public safety center in East St. Louis.

Located at the Emerson Park MetroLink platform, the facility will house a new St. Clair County 911 dispatch center, office space for the county’s sheriff’s deputies, and replacement equipment for the light rail system’s dispatch center.

MetroLink has also nearly completed platform safety work at four select locations in the Metro East – Emerson Park, Jackie Joyner-Kersee Center, Washington Park and Southwestern Illinois College in Belleville.

On the modernized platforms, passengers will now have to buy a ticket before boarding the train. This additional step is also intended to improve safety.

While construction on the four platforms is nearly complete, supply chain issues with a specific piece of electrical equipment delayed the project’s completion. However, that equipment will be delivered in early August – and Scott estimates MetroLink will complete the platforms over the next month.

Ultimately, Bi-State plans to equip all 39 stations in the St. Louis region with the safe platforms. Construction on the second station in Missouri is already underway and is scheduled to open early next year.