CONTRACT FOR METRO PATROLS UP FOR GRABS SHERIFF MAY GET COMPETITION FROM OTHER POLICE AGENCIES.

Byline: SUE DOYLE

Staff Writer

Competition for the $62.5 million annual contract to police the city's mass transit system is heating up among some law enforcement agencies, months before bidding wars begin.

Metro's five-year agreement with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department will expire June 30, 2008, and officials do not yet know if they will renew it. The transit agency is reviewing other security options that could dismantle the sheriff's grip on the mass transit system and save about $4.7 million.

Roger Snoble, Metro's chief executive officer, said at a recent workshop that the security-program review should not be considered a criticism of the Sheriff's Department and its staff assigned to the transit agency.

"We are very happy with the Sheriff's Department," said Snoble. "But we are always looking for the best fit."

Metro is considering fattening up its own staff from 94 to 350 security officers who can conduct more of the lower-level activities that some deputies are performing now, such as checking passengers' fares.

In addition, Metro would contract with a law enforcement agency to act as the central core of its operations, as the Sheriff's Department now does and could bid to continue doing. But Metro is considering paring down sworn officers from the 387 working today to about 100, said Jack Eckles, Metro deputy executive officer for systems, safety and security.

The transit agency could then negotiate contracts with other local police departments getting paid overtime to patrol buses and rails passing through their jurisdictions.

Already, police agencies from Pasadena, Long Beach, Glendale and Santa Monica are interested in the shot to patrol the bus and rail lines running through their jurisdictions, Eckles said.

The county Sheriff's Department is interested in pursuing the contract again, as long as the Metro board believes the agency is providing the appropriate level of service, said Paul Tanaka, assistant sheriff.

"We are definitely interested in the contract," said Tanaka. "We believe it is a good contract for the Sheriff's Department. We believe it is a good contract for the people we provide service to: the Metro authority and its ridership."

Metro security work was shared from 1998 to 2003 by its own officers; by the Sheriff's Department, which patrolled unincorporated Los Angeles; and by the Los Angeles Police Department, which covered the city of Los Angeles. The job involves security on five rail lines, a dedicated busway and 2,250 buses.

But in 2003, the Sheriff's Department beat out the LAPD for a five-year contract to police the mass transit system, after submitting a proposal that was $7 million cheaper in its first year than if the LAPD had continued sharing duties.

Although the stage could be set for another tug of war between the two law enforcement agencies, LAPD officials on Friday were not aware of any plans to bid on the impending contract.

"There is no tug," said LAPD Lt. Roger Mora. "There isn't even a pull."

Ultimately, a decision will come from Metro's board, which will hash out the direction for its security program and then solicit bids.

It could involve a variety of competing interests.

Among the 13 Metro board members are all five members of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, which oversees the Sheriff's Department's budgeting, as well as L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and his three Metro appointees, including Councilman Bernard Parks, former chief of the LAPD.

Others on the Metro board include Glendale Mayor Ara Najarian, Santa Monica Councilwoman Pam O'Connor and Long Beach Councilwoman Bonnie Lowenthal. A Duarte councilman also serves.

Security would be fractured if multiple police agencies handled it for the transit agency, said Dan Finkelstein, Metro transit police chief and a Sheriff's Department commander.

"Having an entity that can cross all the geographic boundaries makes sense," Finkelstein said.

At a recent workshop to review security, Parks warned the board that reducing the number of armed deputies and replacing them with lower-level security officers, just to save some money, puts all security at risk.

"It could be a ticket they (passengers) show them," said Parks. "Or it could be a gun."

sue.doyle(at)dailynews.com

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