SEATTLE — King County Metro announced Thursday that the four bus stops at the 12th & Jackson intersection will reopen on March 3 after closing in December because of safety issues.
Metro Transit Police Chief Todd Morrell says the decision to close was made after criminal activity around the four stops deemed the area unsafe. The stops serve seven different bus lines through Little Saigon. The decision to close came just a few weeks after nine people were stabbed across three days near the intersection. Morrell says the Seattle Police Department, the City of Seattle, Metro, and the King County Sheriff’s Office were all part of the process to improve safety at the intersection.
“The focus was reinstating service quickly,” Morrell said, “We all came together and decided we need to have a really cohesive response to this, of which law enforcement is a component.”
Morrell says community-based mental health and substance use disorder organizations are part of the equation to help riders follow Metro’s rider code of conduct or address the issues that lead to that point.
“My direction to my deputies was simple. Number one — be visible, we want to flood that area with resources so the presence of the metro transit police is palpable and tangible,” Morrell said.
Because the intersection was a priority for Metro, 80% of Metro’s transit police has or will have focused on the 12th and Jackson stops at various times. When asked about the enforcement efforts that Seattle police have previously tried to make to address public safety issues, Morrell believes this response is different.
“The difference is that it had to be a sustained effort, not a moment in time, this is a philosophical shift,” affirmed Morrell.
Morrell expects law enforcement presence to ebb and flow as substantial improvements to safety are seen, and he hopes the prevalence of officers and deputies early on will create a “norm” of acceptable behavior on the system that will translate throughout the county.
“It’s a core vision of establishing a culture of acceptable behavior in our system. If we establish a culture at our stops, that will undoubtedly carry over to our coaches. If we enforce that on our coaches, it will undoubtedly carry over to our stops,” Morrell said.
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