The Long Beach Police Department will no longer station officers on Metro trains and platforms throughout the city, ending a five-year agreement with the transit agency to secure its local facilities.
The LBPD has handled policing on the Long Beach portion of the A Line since 2017, but the department says will not renew its contract with Metro after it expires at the end of December.
Instead, the nine officers, two sergeants and one lieutenant currently watching over the A Line will be reassigned to cover “critical vacancies” in the LBPD’s patrol division, according to an unsigned statement from the department.
Officers will still respond to Metro property if needed, but, “Once the contract is expired, we will no longer have LBPD officers on trains and stations, unless dispatched for emergency calls for service,” the statement said.
The move comes as the LBPD has struggled to fill its ranks. As of July, there were 155 open positions — about one in five officers.
With staff stretched thin, officers on average are taking 20 minutes longer than they were three years ago to respond to all but the most serious crimes, according to data analyzed by the Long Beach Post .