Recent Metro Rail Stabbings Force Sheriff's Department to Beef Up Deputy Presence

Photo by California CPA via the LAist Featured Photos pool

As a result of two recent stabbings on the Metro Rail, the L.A. County Sheriff's Department has increased the number of deputies on trains.

Department members say both the Gold Line and Red Line attacks are unusual.

“[The stabbing] was the most serious incident that I can recall on the Pasadena section, and I’ve worked here for eight years,” Sheriff’s Cmdr. Patrick Jordan said, according to Pasadena Sun. “Stabbings on the entire rail system are incredibly rare, and in the Pasadena section it’s even rarer.”

Due to security reasons, Jordan did not release the number of additional deputies.

“We are going into the anniversary of Sept. 11, and I don’t want to talk about the number of deputies,” he said.

He did note that the Gold Line, which runs through Boyle Heights, Little Tokyo, downtown Los Angeles and South Pasadena, boasts the lowest crime rate in the Metro Rail system.

“The Los Angeles Metro Rail is very safe given the amount of people that use it,” he said. “There’s 1.5 million people a day that use it … so crime is very low given the mission that Metro has.”