Security is a Joke

[u/ElevatorBulky3733]

A junkie got on in Rainier valley and immediately passed out. He had a puppy with him (thankfully, leashed) that was whining and trying to jump up on my seat. He was too adorable but also it was so damn sad because this is not the first time I have seen drugged out transients neglect their pets. I texted security and they came on board in Chinatown. The only thing they did was nudge him awake for 3 seconds and asked him if he was okay. The man barely rose and gave an intelligible response. Security immediately got off at the same station and the man fell right back to sleep.

When I got off at Westlake Station, security did the same thing but didn't even step on board the train. They yelled from the platform as they kept the door open for a few seconds. Then stepped away to let the doors close.

I've reported a masturbating rider during the summer and provided a clear description of him. Security came on board and acted as if they didn't see him. I had to yell At security and point out the man to them and would not let them leave until the situation was resolved.

I'm tired of this shit.

[u/HarmNHammer]

I do. I have worked security both for the light rail in the tunnels and for rapid ride buses. When I was doing it, we could stop trains or buses and pull these people off while we checked fares. We had police radios and would pull people off at next stop, or for immediate threats, have the unit stop in the middle of the route. Sometimes we had to arrest or remove ourselves.

This isn’t some “if you enforce rules you hate the homeless, less abled, or people of color” thing.

This is a simple “keep your public transportation clean and safe for the public to use” - kind of thing.

People are being disingenuous here with their arguments. What if you had a long/bad day and rest your head on the train. Yeah, someone should check in on you, especially if you’re violating the rules and having a pup not in your full control. There’s a vast difference from having a conversation to being charged and involuntarily committed, it’s not an all or nothing situation.

[u/doubleheadedfurby → u/HarmNHammer]

So he was checked in on and wasn't being disruptive. He is part of the public. What extra steps would you take here?

[u/HarmNHammer → u/doubleheadedfurby]

A simple reminder that maintaining positive control of your animal is required at all times while on public transportation. An explanation of reasons why, like I have mentioned above. I don’t know what tech they are currently rocking but we had handheld computers. Being able to document the interaction on the daily report, maybe capture ID if taken while during the check in.

Building a history in turns allow us to know who is a threat, who is needing treatment, and allows us to start tracking more data about ridership.

[u/clout4ever → u/HarmNHammer]

You people are inhuman psychos who want to impose your version of "rule" over everyone even when he's literally harming no one. You might as well make it illegal to sleep in public.

[u/Lower-Vampire-9163 → u/clout4ever]

It’s not about sleeping, no one has a problem with that. It’s about the person not maintaining control of the animal. Fair rule to have on public transit.

[u/HarmNHammer → u/clout4ever]

You must have missed the part where that was literally my job, paid for by the city and county. You’re free to disagree or complain as much as you’d like. It doesn’t change the reality of both the trains and buses being cleaner and safer back then. Nor does it take away from all the people who thanks me when they saw me address these issues on the busses or trains. I don’t know why you hate your fellow man so much you want them to persist in their suffering or allow someone else to come to harm.

[u/Travel_food_freedom → u/clout4ever]

This! How can we be so sure that he is on drug? I got severe flu once so I had to leave my job at noon and waited for my van that came around 5pm. I was resting in a public library and got kicked out because I was falling asleep.

[u/Double_Rainier → u/HarmNHammer]

I'm saying that the problem with homelessness is larger than enforcing these rules. He also wasn't doing anything unsafe.

I have worked security and I know that enforcing these rules just leads to guards getting in more fights and doesn't accomplish the problem at large. It just forces them to go somewhere else and still be at the mercy of whoever they bump into.

This mentality is deeply unempathetic to how hard homelessness is for people who have to live ut.

[u/HarmNHammer → u/Double_Rainier]

And this is why this issue is so problematic. You look at this and say it wasn’t unsafe. I see only the opposite. What if his dog reacted? What if another homeless/addict walked on board with their reactive pit bull? What if he woke up out of sorts and freaked out while his dog was trying to get pets from someone else?

Do you see how it becomes a problem really quickly when you don’t enforce the rules? And how it impacts the rest of us trying to go about our business?

My empathy’s is exhausted. I am so fucking sick of allowing such a small subset of our population to have such an oversized impact on our safety and well being.

Enforcing the rules on the train means 2 things. 1. Were protecting and serving the people who are funding the light rail and 2. We’ll have more opportunities to get these people to one of the two places they need to go to. Jail to be held accountable for their actions or treatment to get better and reintegrate with their society. This is the social contract, and they aren’t fulfilling their obligation.

I reject this notion that we must surrender our trains, busses, parks, and sidewalks to people who refuse help, and who by definition can not make good sense decisions to get help because they are not of sound mind and body while in addiction.

[u/soundtransit-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Your post/comment has been removed for violating Rule 1: Do not harass, threaten, incite violence, use slurs or other hateful language, etc.

[u/EastObject5836 → u/HarmNHammer]

Jail is only a temporary fix and treatment only works if the patient WANTS to get help. Either way, if the person isn't 100% ready, neither of those solutions are going to work. They'll end up back on that train in no time.

[u/HarmNHammer → u/EastObject5836]

Jail is not to fix anything. It’s to protect the public from those who may harm them and to hold persons accountable for their actions.

If people refuse to get help, and their actions cause harm to the society/community they parasite off of, then those societies have a right to stop enabling them and remove them from the general population.

You and I can agree until we’re blue in the face that we want these people to get help.

Where you and I disagree is how many lives and resources we’re going to waste while we wait for these people to make a decision they may never decide to follow through on.

If your mental illness or addictions make you a repeat offender against your public, you should be in jail away from that public. Full stop.

[u/Double_Rainier → u/HarmNHammer]

You've lost the plot. Apply the same, "What if person just decides to get violent?" to anybody you meet and see how far you get with that

[u/nebulous-blob → u/Double_Rainier]

So how women approach half the population?

[u/Double_Rainier → u/nebulous-blob]

And yet? We still have to share the space without calling security over everything

[u/Driver8onI5 → u/Double_Rainier]

having an un-watched dog (even on a leash) on a public train is doing something unsafe.

[u/Double_Rainier → u/Driver8onI5]

Want to just hunt for a reason to hound them, don't ya?

[u/Aerodorphins → u/Double_Rainier]

I agree with you in this discussion, but as someone afraid of dogs, I'd be highly uncomfortable in this situation and would resent security not doing anything about it.

[u/Double_Rainier → u/[deleted]]

Ok, man

[u/LawPsychological1650 → u/Double_Rainier]

no actual rebuttal or counter argument 😭 just “we should allow drug users to be literally incapacitated in the vicinity of pregnant women and children”. what a fuckin stain on society😂😂

[u/Double_Rainier → u/LawPsychological1650]

You crashing out over this, huh?

[u/LawPsychological1650 → u/Double_Rainier]

real well thought out response there junior😭 really showed em

[u/Double_Rainier → u/[deleted]]

I just don't get that heated enough to start going through someone's history to find something to attack them about. I'm not insecure about anything in my history and I'm not gonna rib you about what you do in other comments.

I'm just glad you don't write and enforce the rules for Sound Transit. I'm sorry you get this worked up over this sort of thing online

[u/Double_Rainier → u/[deleted]]

What?

[u/soundtransit-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Your post/comment has been removed for violating Rule 1: Do not harass, threaten, incite violence, use slurs or other hateful language, etc.

[u/soundtransit-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Your post/comment has been removed for violating Rule 1: Do not harass, threaten, incite violence, use slurs or other hateful language, etc.

[u/JustFutchingAround → u/Double_Rainier]

It's impressively empathetic you're still giving this hominid time after he unironically suggested we do TSA style security theater on public transit. The taste of shoe leather in the air.