ST. LOUIS – Deputies with the St. Clair County Sheriff’s Department may be patrolling MetroLink trains and stops in the City of St Louis in the next two or three weeks.
The St. Clair County Board okayed the plan Monday for deputies to ride the rails from St. Clair County through St. Louis.
Deputies will get off at intervals along the route in the city to look for trouble. They’ll then re-board the train and head back to Illinois and repeat that throughout the night.
The plan is the brainchild of St. Clair County Sheriff Rick Watson.
The sheriff said he wanted a way to protect St. Clair County riders traveling into St. Louis and back.
St. Clair County Transit is paying the $450,000 tab for the three deputies that will be assigned to the MetroLink detail.
Even bi-state officials that run MetroLink and law enforcement agree that parts of the MetroLink system are unsafe. They believe this is a good step toward the goal of making the system safe in the city.
