MTA Police...

Here in Maryland we have a number of police forces. The State Police, various County Police force and of course city police forces. Then there is the Maryland Transportation Police. You'd think they would enforce security on the various transportation services in Maryland. That is their mandate.


What they often do is to write traffic violations on the approaches to Baltimore City, just north of the I-695/I-95 intersection. Additionally, they can occasionally be found ejecting people without tickets on the light rail line that runs from the Baltimore-Washington International Airport (BWI) to the Hunt Valley Mall.

On the other hand, what they can't be found doing is traveling on the Metro, Baltimore's subway system. I travel on the subway to and from work 5-6 days a week. I've done so since early March of this year. Because I work various shifts, I've ridden on the Metro from as early as 6 A.M., until as late as the last train runs at midnight. Not once have I seen a MTA Police officer riding the subway.

A recording plays intermittently telling passengers that the trains are being monitored for "MTA's Forbidden Acts." Those forbidden "acts" are smoking, eating or listening to music without headphones. How in the hell they expect to do anything about it beyond me. I, myself, have seen on another car, 2 masked men, jump the gates and dash up the stairs to the surface as well as having had several very young teenage thugs attempt to rob me once. But, never have I seen an MTA Police Office travel on a subway car. While there are what appear to be cameras on each car, I seriously doubt that anyone is actually doing any "monitoring" at all.

Not a trip goes by without some kid either smoking or blasting away with a boom box...both of which are "unlawful acts" according to signs posted on the wall of each car. Someday, I suppose, the MTA Police will actually catch some miscreant doing one of the three unlawful acts, but I'm not holding my breath. After all, writing traffic tickets is a sure fire money maker for the agency rather than enforcing any sort of laws on a subway trains.