‘We are here to serve’
In the third and final part of our conversation with RTD’s Chief of Police and Emergency Management, Dr. Joel Fitzgerald Sr. addresses customer concerns that include open drug use on trains and planning for large events. He also shares his thoughts about the experience of using the RTD system for customers who may have been away from it during the pandemic. Yesterday’s discussion – with topics that includepolicingRTD stations and properties in the winter – is available here.
Many customer complaints fielded by RTD’s digital team relate to open drug use on light rail trains and a perceived lack of a police or security presence across our services. What do you want the public to know about how we are addressing these issues?
In increasing the number of sworn officers, we should concurrently increase the level of accountability for behaviors in our system. Each one of the commanders not only serves their respective area but also has lines they're responsible for. Right now, no one particular supervisor is responsible for addressing problems on individual lines, and that is changing. That comes with the approach I referenced, making people within our department personally responsible to apply evidence-based solutions to problems.
The incidence of drug usage complaints we experience on the system is partially because of the honor system approach that our infrastructure makes conducive. Many of the complaints should never occur, but the reality is we are some time away from paid fare areas, and they happen now. Can we be there all the time? Realistically, we can’t, but if you see it, report it. My hope is that we're able to get a police officer in there to intervene and to make an arrest, if the offense warrants. Remember, it takes a certain threshold in a narcotics offense to even have someone arrested here in the state of Colorado. As much as we don't like the fact that narcotics usage occurs in and around those who do not wish to be exposed to that behavior, the amount possessed or being consumed dictates whether an arrest is made. That is the law.
I remind you that some problems are legislative, and others are policing issues. This problem is multifaceted. It is an issue where we stop someone, and whether we have enough of the alleged narcotic to measure and test, and if the stop is legal. Another factor is that, depending upon the level of the offense, that person may just walk away with a citation or nothing. In my opinion, it's unacceptable – put me in front of a legislative board and I'll testify to it, I'll tell them that it's a ridiculous standard. But I don't think any customer should have to sit next to someone using fentanyl, meth or heroin, or any narcotic. That's infringing upon other people’s personal space, and more than not, these folks aren't people that paid to use the system in the first place. That’s where we come in. The only alternative we have is to understand that paid fare areas are going to be very important measures used to control and mitigate some of the behaviors that we see on the system, but they are not a panacea.
At this point in the pandemic, more people are venturing out to use the RTD system for travel to games, concerts and holiday festivities. What do you want customers to understand about the safety and security planning that goes into events that generate large crowds?
They should know we work collaboratively with Denver and other police agencies in the eight counties that we cover. When there are major events, we attempt to structure the deployment of our collective resources, folks working overtime, those that work for Allied, and those who work for the RTD PD in a manner that provides the most coverage in areas where the highest likelihood for crime exists. We initiate operational plans to work in unison with those other agencies to ensure a safe environment for those people who leverage the convenience of using RTD in lieu of driving to a game, parade or event. The proverbial kitchen sink goes into our planning models.
As I am also the Chief of Emergency Management, it's important to me that we are always ready to initiate an incident command structure in preparation for any potential issue, whether it is related to terrorism or spree crimes that require immediate responses. We plan, and we train our officers to a standard at or above our brother and sister agencies to ensure that we can adequately respond during any given event.
With safety in mind, what would you say to those individuals who may have used RTD services before the pandemic and are considering whether to return to the system?
I use the system. My family, who visits me very often, also feels comfortable using this public transit system. A safe environment is always dependent upon the added participation of our stakeholders assuming an active bystander role in the public safety mission. We advertise it on all modes of transport, but we don't want that to exacerbate fears or feelings that when you take public transit, you are risking something. You risk something when you don't take it and drive yourself home after a vibrant night downtown. You also risk something when you let unfounded fears dictate how you behave.
I encourage families to use RTD because it is a safer, cleaner, more effective mode of transportation. You don't have to worry about parking. There is a safety presence on the system, and we're an efficient way of getting from point A to point B. Encouraging folks to ride rests upon how well we do as an organization performing all our duties collectively, whether operator or police officer. Every RTD employee understands that we risk people not wanting to ride when a noteworthy event happens on a bus or train. Therefore, whether they experience employee discourtesy or are victims of crime, we must all remain keenly aware that when one thing happens to negatively affect the customer experience, we must work even harder to ensure it is only a microcosm of how they view RTD. It's not earth shattering that occasionally, something occurs. It becomes a negative experience when people use RTD services and incidents continues to happen, or they see an operator turn a blind eye. Crime occurs on a very small percentage of our buses and trains, and we are working to reduce that further. Collectively, we're doing a better job of creating an environment that riders expect, one of safety, cleanliness and security.
We need your help in correcting the narrative, and you can't help by staying home and not taking public transportation. That’s “biting our nose to spite our face,” so to speak. You have to agree that RTD provides an efficient, effective, on-time offering. Don't judge the entire organization by the one or two things that you hear may or may not have happened over the course of many days, weeks or even years.
What is your policing philosophy?
I mentioned evidence-based policing and community-oriented policing as foundations for the direction we will take in RTD PD. My job is to make sure we use the data that we're gathering to make decisions that are in the best interest (and safety) of all stakeholders. We are making a much overdue change to a NIBRS (National Incident Based Reporting Statistics) system of reporting crimes. This aligns our reporting system with Denver and most other law enforcement agencies and provides integrity to our data. In layperson’s terms, it'll be “apples to apples” rather than our older classifications and categories that aren't used by other police agencies to report on crime. That's a step in the right direction in terms of assessing crime through the same lens and adjusting based upon the data, not hunches.
Evidence-based policing is evaluating real, verifiable information, putting police officers in places where they need to be armed with information that helps them do their jobs. Embracing that part of the responsibility means identifying chronic offenders and concentrating on those who drive the occurrence of crime. It does not mean we neglect other issues that may present themselves in the form of some emerging incident or pattern that occurs elsewhere and shifting our focus in that geographical area immediately.
RTD will engage in community policing in every interaction we have with others, becoming a part of the community we serve. When our folks interact with people who may be in need, whether it's during a crisis, someone struggling with addiction, or someone experiencing an unhoused situation, our officers will attempt to connect them with social service providers. As we connect people with services and we provide them places to stay and alternatives to using illegal substances or going without necessary medications, we conceivably reduce the number of incidents requiring a traditional police response in our public transportation community.
Simply put, my expectation of employees is that we relate better to all people through positive and helpful interactions. We are here to serve. We recognize that we've got to brand ourselves differently in the eyes of the community, and that means hiring more RTD police officers, getting those police officers involved in civic events, actively listening to concerns in a problem-solving manner, and challenging all stakeholders to be a part of the law enforcement process by inspecting the behaviors they expect on the system.
Describe yourself in three words.
Integrity is everything.
To review the entirety of this conversation, visit the News Stop.