Over the past several years, we’ve been focusing on improving the customer experience and public safety for riders and the many Metro employees who deliver our service. We want everyone on our system to be safe and feel safe. As part of that work, we’re contacted by riders to address issues – and the vast majority of those calls involve societal issues such as homelessness, riders experiencing mental health crises and substance abuse.
To better help address these issues, our Department of Public Safety today launched its Care-Based Services Division that will bring together all of Metro’s care-centered public safety programs, including Metro Ambassadors, Homeless Outreach Management and Engagement (HOME), and Community Intervention Specialists. In this way, we’re taking a holistic approach to public safety that prioritizes safety, dignity, and the right response for every situation.
- Metro Ambassadors provide a highly visible, uniformed presence across the system with a focus on customer support, wayfinding, and helping riders feel safe. Ambassadors are especially effective in creating a sense of comfort for riders who may be uneasy interacting with sworn officers, while still serving as an important part of Metro’s overall safety ecosystem.
- HOME and Community Intervention Specialists complement this work by responding to situations involving mental health crises or vulnerable individuals through a multidisciplinary, care-first approach. These teams focus on de-escalation and connection to appropriate services, working closely with sworn officers when needed to ensure situations are handled safely and effectively.
- And the Care-Based Services Division will also work to build new Crisis Response Teams. These teams will respond to behavioral health–related incidents on the rail and busway system, using clinicians, peer specialists, and, when appropriate, trained DPS officers. Deployed through a zone-based model, Crisis Response Teams will emphasize rapid response, stabilization, and connection to supportive resources, helping resolve incidents in ways that reduce reliance on traditional law enforcement while reinforcing system-wide safety.
Metro’s Homeless Outreach teams, Ambassadors and Community Intervention Specialist teams are transitioning into the Department of Public Safety this month. This new division will work in close coordination with the department’s other divisions that oversee law enforcement, Code of Conduct enforcement, physical security and emergency management, resulting in improved response times to ensure all riders and employees feel safe and are safe. This reflects our commitment to a modern public safety approach — one that is holistic, integrated, and visible, to ensure riders and employees feel safe throughout the system.
It also reflects a growing recognition of the need to integrate care-based expertise into public safety responses, helps divert non-criminals experiencing crises away from the criminal justice system and connects them to services they need most. This approach will also ensure that law enforcement resources aren’t dispatched to scenarios where they aren’t truly needed, so that they can focus on crime prevention and other emergency responses.
The division will be led by Craig Joyce, a licensed clinical social worker who has been overseeing Metro’s work to help connect unhoused riders to social services and housing in partnership with L.A. County and six homeless service providers.
Metro’s Homeless Outreach and Mobile Engagement (HOME) program deploys multidisciplinary outreach teams across the rail and busway system to deliver assistance to individuals in need. Through the work of HOME and its partners, the number of people sheltering on Metro’s system decreased by 38% year over year, according to the 2025 Metro point in time count.
The Metro Board of Directors approved the creation of the Department of Public Safety in 2024. After a national search, William “Bill” Scott was selected this past spring to serve as the first Chief of Metro’s DPS. Here’s a recent interview we did with Chief Scott on his vision for the DPS and the importance of care-based strategies.
We will continue to provide you with updates as we build out our Department of Public Safety.
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While this is a good initiative, as a rider I would feel better about riding if as much was done for those of us who pay to use the system as those homeless and disturbed persons who do not pay. I think many of us who do pay and ride feel our concerns are minimized. This is a matter of equity. Priority should be given to securing the system against the entry of non paying riders, removing those who freeload, and generally checking Tap cards and more generally enforcing fare compliance. Lots more to do.
This is a very positive and thoughtful initiative by LA Metro. Launching the Care-Based Services Division shows a strong commitment to rider safety while also prioritizing dignity and compassion. It is encouraging to see programs like Metro Ambassadors HOME teams and Community Intervention Specialists working together to address complex issues such as homelessness and mental health with a care first approach. The creation of Crisis Response Teams is especially impactful as it helps reduce unnecessary law enforcement involvement while still ensuring safety. This holistic strategy reflects a modern understanding of public safety and community needs. Great step forward for riders and employees alike.