SHERIFF MAY GET MTA JOB.

Byline: - Troy Anderson

Lured by the promise of saving up to $7 million, the MTA board is poised today to take away the LAPD's lucrative contract for policing buses and trains and give it to the Sheriff's Department.

But Mayor James Hahn is expected to urge his fellow MTA board members to consider an alternative that would maintain five-year contracts for both the sheriff and the Los Angeles Police Department until an MTA security force is phased in.

Without a contract, a spokesman for the Mayor's Office said, LAPD would not be paid for responding to incidents within its jurisdiction.

``If something happens on the Red Line, we would still have to respond without getting reimbursed,'' said Brian Williams, Hahn's deputy mayor for transportation.

He also said the LAPD's bid exceeded the Sheriff's Department because of higher overhead costs, and that city officials were skeptical of the sheriff's contract estimates.

Sheriff's Capt. Ray Leyva said the department can provide security on trains and buses more cheaply than the LAPD because it is willing to use civilian fare collectors on the subway and commuter trains.

``We can do it at a much better rate than our biggest competitor, which is about $7 million better, and still give the MTA the full service they were looking for,'' Leyva said.

Sheriff's deputies, who already patrol Metrolink trains, also would patrol Metropolitan Transportation Authority subways and trains, and would be available by radio to respond to crimes on buses, Leyva said.

Currently, policing on the MTA's rail and bus system is split under a contract that costs the transit agency nearly $60 million a year.

The LAPD patrols the Red Line subway and buses in Los Angeles. The Sheriff's Department patrols buses throughout the remainder of the county and the Blue and Green Line railways.

The five-year contracts for both law enforcement agencies expired in November and the MTA has temporarily extended the contracts and asked the agencies to submit new bids. The initial contract with the LAPD included $3.4 million to fund the salaries of 199 police officers.

The MTA has found that it pays $3.66 per bus vehicle service hour for police protection compared with a national average of $1.57 an hour.

MTA spokesman Marc Littman said homicides and serious crimes occasionally occur on MTA buses and trains, but that crime levels are much lower than the neighborhoods the buses and trains go through. ``We are not immune to the crime that takes place in surrounding neighborhoods we serve, but compared to the crime on the street, the crime on buses and trains is extremely low,'' Littman said.