Deputies To Ride Palm Beach County Trains, Buses In Search Of Suspicious Activity

The Palm Beach County (Fla.) Sheriff’s Office Homeland Security Department is preparing to launch an initiative aimed at preventing mass transit terrorist attacks like those that killed scores of people in Madrid in 2004 and London in 2005. The initiative, slated to launch by late summer, will place a dozen plainclothes sheriff’s deputies aboard Palm Tran buses and Tri-Rail trains, much like federal air marshals ride aboard commercial airliners. A federal grant pays for the deputies, who will be monitoring the transit systems for people behaving suspiciously or objects that appear to pose a threat. Palm Tran’s executive director welcomed the initiative, explaining that public transit is a terrorism target that needs protection. Security experts agree, believing that terrorists view local bus and train systems as “softer targets” than airports, which have bulked up security since the Sept. 11 attacks. One Fort Lauderdale man who takes local mass transit notes that the undercover deputies would probably be more useful on the Palm Tran buses than the trains because the trains and train stations are already protected by private security guards, whereas the buses do not have security guards. The dozen plainclothes deputies are the newest addition to the Sheriff’s Office’s homeland security unit, which was created in 2005 and has already launched round-the-clock marine patrols and an intelligence operations unit.
Abstracted by the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center(NLECTC) from the South Florida Sun-Sentinel (05/11/06); Kaye, Ken .