In response to a rise in crime on trains, platforms and at station, next week SEPTA plans to launch a special deployment of its police officers as well as add unarmed security personnel to subway and el trains.
As NBC10 newsgathering partner KYW NewsRadio first reported, starting Monday, these officers will be on board the Broad Street and Market-Frankford lines.
"We are looking at ways we can use personnel that we have to address issues," SEPTA spokesperson Andrew Busch told NBC10.
Busch said that the transit agency is increasing police presence through "a slight shift change," which will enable more officers to be on platforms and in trains along the subway lines that cut through Center City.
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SEPTA has room in the budget for 200 police officers. But, currently the mass transit authority only has 160 on duty.
Busch said the transit agency expects to hire 22 additional police officers in the near future, but that won't happen for at least six months.
To support its police, Busch said that SEPTA will be moving about 60 yellow-vested, unarmed security officers onto trains as well.
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There will also be new announcements on trains to let riders know that there are officers there in the case of any emergency.
Recent incidents -- including a stabbing this week that happened five days after a deadly stabbing earlier this month -- are just the latest examples of a rise in violent crime throughout the city's transit system. Over the past four years, aggravated assaults and robberies have increased on SEPTA trains.
"We have seen these numbers start to level off," noted Busch. "But not to numbers we had pre-pandemic."
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