abstract
| - The Metro Transit Police Department is unique in American law enforcement. It is the only police agency that has local police authority in three different jurisdictions (Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia). The department has an authorized strength of 423 sworn officers, 106 security special police, and 24 civilian personnel. New officers complete twenty-three weeks of initial training at the Northern Virginia Criminal Justice Training Academy and then complete fifteen additional weeks of training at the Metro Transit Police Academy. Transit Police officers patrol the Metrorail system and Metrobuses using a variety of techniques including uniformed and plainclothes patrol, bike patrol, and in marked and unmarked patrol cars. Transit Police Detectives provide investigative support. Transit Police officers have jurisdiction and arrest powers throughout the 1500 sqmi Metro service area for crimes that occur on Transit Authority facilities, [1] or within 150 ft of a Metrobus stop. Metro - Metro Compact Two Transit Police officers have been killed in the line of duty. Officer Harry Davis, Jr. was shot and killed in Landover, Maryland while investigating a stolen vehicle parked at a Metro facility near the Landover station on December 20, 1993. Officer Marlon Morales was shot in the District of Columbia by a fare evasion suspect at the U Street-Cardozo Metrorail Station on June 10, 2001. Morales succumbed to his wounds and died on June 13, 2001. The suspects in both murders were identified, captured, tried, convicted and are currently serving sentences of life in prison without the possibility of parole. Transit Police is actively involved in protecting its passengers and infrastructure from terrorist threats. After the September 11, 2001 attacks and the London subway bombings, and periodically since, members of the Metro Transit Police Service Response Team conducted high visibility sweeps of the rail system while displaying submachine guns and supported by explosive detection K-9 teams. Additionally, the department has a dedicated explosive disposal team. The Metro Transit Police is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies.
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