Sheriff Surveillance Cameras Help Rob Kid Twice in 12 Minutes on Bus

For all the Soviet-flavoured propaganda that Metro pastes on the bussess, trains and stations, I can assure you that the protection implied is nearly non-existent. (One can pop by the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf on 7th and Flower in the mornings to see the same balloon-shaped sheriff taking his time doing nothing there before he heads to Pershing Square to loll about with his brown-shirted pals, coffee in hand, do the same: nothing. The below photo remains available for viewing on the push-pin board at said Coffee Bean. In the near future there will be another post or two on The Bus Bench regarding this particular sheriff's highly questionable behaviour at Pershing Square.)

And in the case that there remains doubt about the effectiveness of the expensively contracted security services of southern CA's sheriffs on public transit, have a look at what the cameras caught on an OCTA bus (Metro's soCal sister OCTA) two weeks ago.

More after the transfer. . .

Read the article, and note that the armed thief remained beside the kid for 10 minutes AFTER robbing him, then escaped. The panning and tilting of the camera shows that the person operating it knew that something was amiss well before the thief single out the boy—but still did nothing more than monitor the criminal.

This incident should come as no surprise.

The vast array of threats posted throughout the rail stations and on the bussess overseen by the MTA—which is responsible for Metro and closely related to OCTA—is to the effect that most straphangers and bus riders may have stopped seeing them. The very cameras (and operators behind them) being advertised seem to be no less oblivious, as these photos imply by the vandalized signs:

Upstairs of Pershing Square station, the sheriffs who should be patrolling the station are having a blast with their boys' club. (For straphangers familiar with the long route required to get to the train, I am sure that you lot will agree that the amount of time required—especially for obese sheriffs—to get from the street to the platform is considerable.)

The Los Angeles Sheriff department gained an exclusive contract with Metro in 2002. It was expanded in 2003. According to the the L.A. Sheriff's Unofficial Guide to Badges, Patches and History, it is now the "second largest transit policing agency in the nation." And in the burgeoning downtown of Los Angeles, not five blocks from where Tom Gilmore resides, one wonders why such lazy behaviour—as exhibited below—apppears to be the norm.

The following videos may prove to be rather boring, except for folk whose lawyers may desire some proof that their clientele were fortunate to have not had their heads cut off while riders looked on in horror while help was not on the way except to protect the coroner from questions:

Meantime, it is not unusual to find scenes such as the one below (be warned: it is seven minutes long) whereby people who are far more capable of harm to themselves and others, are allowed to remain loitering despite being loons and not boarding trains. But as this scene occurred not during rush hour at a heavily populated station (which greatly increases the chances for citations fr fare evasion and all the other no-nos that Metro demands be heavily fined), it is no wonder why it happened and will continue to do so.

-BusTard