DEPUTIES KEEP RIDING METROLINK CONTRACT OK'D DESPITE SHORTAGE.

Byline: ALEX DOBUZINSKIS Staff Writer

Unable to staff numerous deputy positions, the Sheriff's Department will continue to patrol the Metrolink system, requiring deputies to leave the county and travel as far as San Bernardino and Oxnard.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Gloria Molina argued this week that the contract with the rail authority too often forces deputies to work outside the county. The department, which provides law enforcement in the Santa Clarita and Antelope valleys, has nearly 1,000 vacancies for sworn personnel, she said.

``We are going to have our deputies that we recruit, that we train, that we prepare going out and protecting and serving in districts that are not ours -- not even in our own county,'' Molina said Tuesday at a Board of Supervisors meeting.

Metrolink serves all six Southland counties, with stops in the San Fernando, Santa Clarita and Antelope valleys.

The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved a $7.2 million contract extension between Metrolink and the Sheriff's Department, which has patrolled the system for 14 years. The extension runs through June 2011.

But the board also asked officials from Metrolink and the county to look into getting more cooperation from other counties in patrolling the system.

But Cmdr. Dan Finkelstein, who is in charge of transit security for the Sheriff's Department, said his agency patrols Metrolink because other law enforcement agencies aren't interested in doing it.

The Sheriff's Department has 40 personnel assigned to Metrolink, including 30 sworn deputies or their supervisors. Deputies are stationed in Chatsworth and Pomona. Sometimes they ride on trains and catch fare violators; other times they patrol grade crossings.

``It makes sense to have a one-stop shop from Metrolink's personnel and for the safety of the riders,'' Finkelstein said. ``Having a one-stop shop to determine what the incident is and what kind of resources need to respond.''

Occasionally, sheriff's deputies will roll out to an incident in another county, and other times they'll call the local law-enforcement agency to handle it.

The sheriff's deputies patrol the system in other counties, but 90 percent of the response calls and citations issued are in Los Angeles County, Finkelstein said.

The report to the Board of Supervisors on the feasibility of creating a Joint Powers Authority for patrolling Metrolink is due back in three months.