WASHINGTON — Reports of suspicious packages to Metro Transit Police are up about 500 percent in the week since the Paris attacks, according to Chief Ron Pavlik.
Although Pavlik emphasizes that there is no credible threat to the Metro system based on all of his briefings and intelligence sharing with local, state and federal agencies, Metro Transit Police have stepped up patrols.
“We are going to continue to do a high visibility patrol with officers out both on our bus and rail side; we are going to continue with our random explosive bag screening on a much higher level,” he says.
Pavlik has been a part of regular conference calls with other transit police chiefs in cities across the country, and he says all of the extra measures are just precautionary.
Transportation Security Administration Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response, or VIPR, teams have helping to supplement the Transit Police force.
Pavlik urges all riders and Metro employees to continue to be the “eyes and ears” needed to root out any potential threats by following the “see something, say something” motto.
Riders can share their concerns with any Metro Transit Police officer or Metro employee in person or call or text police.
Although many riders regular tweet their concerns about Metro, police say that is not the way to report a security concern. In part, that is because the accounts are not monitored around the clock.
