A woman videotaped a man exposing himself on a Los Angeles light-rail train. Another woman was “savagely beaten” on a New York subway train. A third woman was stabbed to death and her sister hospitalized at a BART station in Oakland.
These attacks received a lot of publicity, but they are just the tip of the iceberg. Riders on the Los Angeles transit system suffer from several major crimes a day — “major” (“part 1” crimes) meaning homocide, rape, aggravated assault, robbery, or car theft — and a slightly smaller number of minor or “part 2” crimes, meaning simple assaults, vandalism, minor sex offenses, and drunk or disorderly conduct.
The good news is that, starting in July 2017, LA Metro increased the police presence on board its trains, which reduced the total number of crimes from about ten per day to about seven. But some serious crimes continued to increase in number. Continue reading
