ACT-LA is an advocacy organization that strives to create equitable transit systems and neighborhoods in Los Angeles. In recent years, ACT-LA has campaigned on securing safety alternatives to armed policing on LA Metro’s buses and trains, and helped to win an unarmed transit ambassador program that launched in October 2022. In this episode, I interview Scarlett De Leon, Campaigns Director at ACT-LA, to discuss her organization’s vision for creating community safety on transit. In 2021, the group released its “Metro as a Sanctuary” report that audited Metro’s policing contracts, and analyzed the racially disproportionate impact of over-policing in the system. ACT-LA’s report and subsequent pop-up activations demonstrated what care-based safety solutions that forefront rider dignity could look like.
ACT-LA is an advocacy organization that strives to create equitable transit systems and neighborhoods in Los Angeles. In recent years, ACT-LA has campaigned on securing safety alternatives to armed policing on LA Metro’s buses and trains, and helped to win an unarmed transit ambassador program that launched in October 2022.
In this episode, I interview Scarlett De Leon, Campaigns Director at ACT-LA, to discuss her organization’s vision for creating community safety on transit. In 2021, the group released its “Metro as a Sanctuary” report that audited Metro’s policing contracts, and analyzed the racially disproportionate impact of over-policing in the system. ACT-LA’s report and subsequent pop-up activations demonstrated what care-based safety solutions that forefront rider dignity could look like.
“Some population segments might feel more comfortable with armed security, but at the same time, they are causing actual harm to our Black riders, Latino riders, and other segments of our community. When we look at safety for our station, we want to make sure that everyone feels safe.” - Scarlett De Leon
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Hosted by Kapish Singla
Edited by Ali Lemer and Kapish Singla
Produced by TransitCenter
Music: “Comma” - Blue Dot Sessions
Disclaimer: Political views raised by guests on the podcast do not reflect the views of TransitCenter.
Kapish Singla From TransitCenter. I am Kapish Singla. This is High Frequency. In season three of High Frequency, we're featuring stories of advocates who have shifted the transit agenda and their cities towards projects that better reflect rider priorities. High profile violent incidents and anti-social behavior on transit have renewed conversations about public safety on transit. In response, many transit agencies have gravitated towards a solution they know best - deploying more armed cops at stations and on buses. Though that solution has neither reduced instances of violence nor fears about crime, and the deployment of additional cops increases the likelihood of violent interactions between police officers and Black, brown and other vulnerable riders.
In L.A., overall crime is up on transit. L.A. Metro recorded a 72% surge in violent crime through first four months of 2022, compared to the same period in 2021. However, advocates in Los Angeles have been making the case that adding additional officers to an already bloated policing budget will not result in genuine safety for all. Alliance for Community Transit Los Angeles or ACT-LA is one of the groups leading the call to reimagine public safety. In 2021, they released a report entitled "Metro as a Sanctuary," which analyzes the racially disproportionate impacts of overpolicing in the system and puts forth a vision of care-based safety solutions. In response to the demands of ACT-LA and others, LA metro launched an unarmed ambassador program in October of 2022. Former LA Metro Board chair Hilda Solis told the LA Times that the effort is "likely to be one of the most significant programs this agency will ever launch." To learn more about the unarmed ambassador program and how it fits into an ecosystem of care based safety solutions, I spoke with Scarlett de Leon, Campaigns Director at ACT-LA.
Kapish Singla Can you describe how L.A. Metro currently approaches safety in the system? What are the different agencies or police forces that Metro contracts with?
Scarlett De Leon In 2017, Metro directors approved 786 million in 3 five-year policing contracts. That's a five year contract for LAPD, LASD and Long Beach Police Department. A lot of that goes to paying overtime. Right before 2019, like around 2018, Metro increased the LAPD contract by 35 million, and then there was another increase in 2021. And the reason why they kept on getting increased is because they were mismanaged. So Metro comes to the Board and says, "Look, we overspent on this contract. We only have enough for, let's say, the end of the year. And if you don't extend it, they're going to be all out of the system." We don't want to give money because this keeps on happening. It's a mismanagement, yet they don't really know what other alternatives to put, so they end up granting more money to this contract. One thing that's really interesting is that a big chunk of the law enforcement contract goes to the Sheriff's department. They're getting more money now than they ever have gotten from Metro. And yet the sheriff is constantly pointing at how unsafe the system is. But it's under his watch, the system is, as he says, "becoming even more unsafe." So something clearly is not working. And I think we need to evaluate that and really think through: what are the issues and how can we address root causes instead of throwing money at these contracts that are grossly mismanaged and obviously are not effective.
Kapish Singla Safety can look and feel like different things to different groups of people. I'm wondering, in your role as a transit advocate, what have you heard from other Angelenos about the safety concerns that they have while navigating the transit system?
Scarlett De Leon We hear a lot from our Black community, from the Latino community, just what policing has done to their community and how real interactions with law enforcement has led to really unsafe situations for them. Between 2012 and 2015, Black riders received 50% of all fare evasion citations and 60% of all arrests. But they only account for 19% of riders. So there is real implications to the way Metro is approaching safety. Beyond not being safe, it is targeting a specific community. So what we're calling for is a care based safety approach where riders are being taken care of first in order to create real building blocks of safety.
Kapish Singla What are some of the alternative solutions for creating safety that ACT-LA has put forth?
Scarlett De Leon We were really sitting with the fact that Metro's budgets did not reflect the needs of transit riders. So we decided we needed to take a step back and figure out what is a better approach. So our "Metro as a Sanctuary" report really puts forward a layered universe of different alternatives that should work together to really create actual safety on the system. So we have well-designed spaces, shades, bus stops, lights, benches, plants--everything that would make you feel welcomed and safe. Also, we have programing, so musicians, public art, local street vendors. Not only is it good for the local economy to have street vendors at stations, but also it brings more people to the station, which creates safety. Right? This is really well known. If there is more eyes on the station on a public place, crime goes down. We also want some more bystander trainings around de-escalation, how to intervene so riders can have ownership of their commute. Support services - we need outreach workers. We need mental health workers to really be connecting folks to long term services.
Kapish Singla In September 2022, ACT-LA held an activation at Compton station, where some of these solutions were being piloted. Can you tell us a little bit about what that day was about?
Scarlett De Leon Yeah, so we wanted to activate a station to show what would it look like if we had all of these in place. So we partnered up with Supervisor Holly Mitchell SD-2 Metro Board member who has been a great champion of alternatives. We chose the Compton station. There's a good commuter base, but the station feels empty and abandoned. So we went to the station and we looked around and we evaluated what needs to happen to turn this station into a sanctuary, a place that folks want to be on. So some of the stuff we did was really basic. We asked Compton and they cleaned the station up, they powered washed it, they fixed a light. And later I learned from a Metro customer service employee that she gets constant, almost daily calls from women on the station feeling unsafe because the light is broken and they had not gotten it fixed. So that's like a real tangible thing. They had these flower beds that we were able to bring flowers too. So the place looked beautiful because beauty is also really important in public spaces. We brought performers, we brought street vendors, a really nice clean bathroom with bathroom attendants. Ambassadors were there. There was social workers like PATH doing outreach to in-house folks. We had TAP cards that were loaded that we were going out to anyone who couldn't pay for fare but needed to get on the system. So it was a great day to show what it would look like to have this universe of care based strategies in place. And we had folks interacting with riders and it was really great to hear what their reaction was and also to hear the reaction of Supervisor Holly Mitchell, of Metro CEO Stephanie Wiggins, and other Metro employees. We all left feeling like this is right. This is what our stations should look like. So now it's the second part, which is like, okay, we had a day and it went great. How can we have our stations, the majority of them, feel this way, be a Metro as a sanctuary?
Kapish Singla How has ACT-LA pushed L.A. Metro to see or think about safety through new perspectives?
Scarlett De Leon Our report, Metro as a Sanctuary: Reimagining Safety on Public Transit, really put forward a vision. It said: "These are the different areas that need to happen. This is what we're calling for." So it provided the Board a blueprint for them to also start envisioning a different way to approach safety. And now we hear them also talk about alternatives. We got ambassadors now. So our advocacy with our partners, with our allies, with riders has really led to bringing this conversation forward in a tangible way. Also, we're in 2022. We got to also think back to what was happening right when the pandemic happened. We had a really difficult summer. There was real police killings, brutality happening, being front and center on the stage during that time. And through that pain, through that struggle, there was also really beautiful advocacy, really beautiful activism happening from Black activists. And they really, as always, keep on paving the way of this conversation, really putting forward their reality of law enforcement is not caring for our communities. Done. We need something else. So all we are saying is: here are all these other things that you can be implementing. Here is the research. They work. Riders want them. I think our job is really to keep on pushing to hopefully create that political will.
Kapish Singla Can you tell us about the transit ambassador program and what those transit ambassadors will be tasked with?
Scarlett De Leon Yeah, the transit ambassador program is a pilot program within Metro. They are under the customer experience department and they are going to be tasked with supporting riders with wayfinding, tap cards, etc. but they are also an increased presence on the station. There's two levels. There's a transit ambassador, level 1 and transit ambassador level 2. The level one is customer service. If I am a student who can pay for fares, an ambassador will connect me to the K-12 student program so I can have a tap card. And then level two will have more experience around mental health. Like if someone's having a mental health crisis on the system, they're able to connect them to mental health services that Metro has. The most important thing that an ambassador does is take care of the rider. The ambassador is friendly. The ambassador is part of your everyday commute. You know, you can rely on them. And also the ambassadors of face of the system, if you need anything, they are there and they will connect you to what it is that you need. So the ambassador really is key to connecting the rider to the ecosystem of care-based safety.
Kapish Singla What would you say to critics who might scoff at the idea that oh these ambassadors are unarmed? They won't be able to do much. How would you sell them on the program and why it's beneficial?
Scarlett De Leon Most of us would agree that when we ride transit system, sometimes there is a lack of customer service and that ambassador could do that. An ambassador is there to support you. Ambassadors are only adding to the experience of a rider. Safety is important. I agree with that. And that's why we need to really take a step back and take a seriously and be like, what are the root causes? How can we address those? I will also say that some people, some population segments might feel more comfortable with armed security, but at the same time, they are causing actual harm to our Black riders, to our Latino riders, and other segments of our community. So. So when we look at safety for our station, we want to make sure everyone feels safe. Everyone who rides it. And those are the type of solutions we need to start looking at ones that benefit everyone equally without causing any harm to anyone else.
Kapish Singla And Scarlett, you've been involved in work trying to re-imagine safety on transit from a few different angles. What advice do you have for advocates in other cities fighting to implement more care based solutions in their systems?
Scarlett De Leon The place to start, which I think advocates are doing a great job at, is starting with the rider. What is it that they need? What are the solutions that our community actually wants to see? And start from there and then building from from there, from ground up. Leading with riders' voices has been the most important strategy for us, not only because it is what we believe in. It's, I think, the right thing. They're the ones that are the most impacted and having a great vision. Right? Really believing in your vision. Our vision of care based safety is beautiful and inspiring. Going back to our activation that we talked about that we had. It was so beautiful. And to be there, it really was it felt so right to see our vision in person. It felt like this is the right thing. And I think when you have something like that, it is inspiring and it brings more people in.
Kapish Singla Thank you for your time, Scarlett.
Scarlett De Leon Thank you.
Kapish Singla That's all for today's episode. I'm your host, Kapish Singla. This episode was edited by Ali Lemer and Kapish Singla. High Frequency is a TransitCenter production. For more information, please visit us at transitcenter.org