Santa Monica is moving toward a new agreement with Metro that would allow Santa Monica Police Department officers to patrol the platforms and trains at all three of the city’s Metro E/Expo Line stations, giving the city a much more direct role in addressing public safety and quality-of-life concerns on the system.
The city says it is nearing completion of a Memorandum of Understanding with Metro that would formally authorize SMPD officers to operate on Metro property. The agreement is part of the city’s broader Realignment Plan, which has included an effort to find new ways to address concerns associated with being the western terminus of the E Line.
For years, the city has long argued that the terminus creates particular challenges, including people remaining in the Downtown area after arriving by train. Santa Monica officials have pointed to the fact that Metro stations, trains and platforms are under Metro’s jurisdiction when discussing what the city could do about perceived problems on the system. The proposed agreement would change that arrangement.
Under the MOU, SMPD officers would be able to ride Metro trains and patrol station platforms, provide a law enforcement presence during fare compliance operations, remove riders without valid fares from trains and stations, enforce Metro’s Customer Code of Conduct and respond to emergency calls on Metro property.
The officers could also coordinate with social service providers to connect people experiencing homelessness or otherwise in need with services. The city says deployments would remain at the discretion of SMPD Chief of Police.
The agreement would also establish shared performance metrics between Santa Monica and Metro. The agencies would track calls for service, response times, crime trends, fare compliance and referrals to social services.
New fare gates are also coming
The police agreement is only one part of the city’s new approach to the Metro system.
Santa Monica is also working with Metro on installing upgraded exit gates at all three Santa Monica rail stations.
Metro has been rolling out taller, reinforced fare gates and requiring riders to tap when exiting at stations throughout the system. According to the city, Metro’s early results have been significant. Metro is completing its analysis of the fare-gate program and expects to deploy the upgraded gates in Santa Monica by mid-2027.
The MOU still needs to be finalized, and the city has not yet provided details on how many officers would ultimately patrol the stations or how frequently they would be deployed.
