Yesterday afternoon I was on the 2 Line to Bellevue when a couple sat down across the aisle from me holding a fentanyl tube and tin foil. The man then pulled out a container of loose white powder and opened it. At this point I got up and reported the situation to the security guards on the train who were standing very close by and could see the couple. The security guard responded that they wouldn’t do anything unless the man was actively smoking the fentanyl. Is this really the policy of Sound Transit, or just a lazy guard? If it is the policy, it is ridiculous — by the time they wait for someone to light up, that person has already exposed a whole train car of people to a dangerous drug. Possession is illegal, and if it’s enough to get arrested for then it should certainly be enough to get removed from the train. If we want the light rail to have public support, to feel safe, to maintain high ridership, Sound Transit needs to willing to draw a hard line, to send a clear message that the health and safely of the community comes first and drugs are completely unacceptable.
Updated to add: I am a local and ride the train nearly every day. I will say I feel more safe onboard now than years past, I think because of the expansions leading to increased ridership, and hiring of more guards has lead to better behavior. But we definitely still have policy improvements to make, such as empowering the guards to take more serious actions.
submitted by /u/homeparkthrowaway
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