Sound Transit implements and deploys seven-police officer bike team

Sound Transit is working to improve safety and security within its transit spaces with the new addition of a seven-police officer bike team. The goal of the team is to increase law enforcement visibility throughout the system with extra presence in problem areas.

Using information from patrol deputies and crime analysts, the team looks for trends to deploy effectively and to be proactive, engaging with people and staying highly visible when on duty.

“We engage with hundreds of people every day,” said Sgt. Anatoliy Nazariya, who leads the bike unit. “We’re out there and not tied to a district and people notice.”

The bike unit initially works as a high-profile deterrent for the immediate disruption of crime and to promote safe use of the transit system. Follow-up patrols make sure that once areas are made safe, they stay that way.  

The bike team has already been deployed to all Sound Transit stations on the 1 Line and 2 Line, Sound Transit garages and transit centers and Sounder stations. Riders may also see them aboard both Link light rail and Sounder commuter rail. Most frequently, the bike team can be spotted at the Sounder’s Kent Station and Link’s Westlake Station and International District/Chinatown Station.  

Sometimes, the unit will bike south from Northgate Station, visiting all the 1 Line stations along the route to downtown Seattle, as part of their fitness regimen. “If we’re going to expedite biking to an emergency call, you need to be in shape,” Nazariya said. 

At Kent Station, the bike unit and transit resource officers partnered with Kent Police and the school district to collaboratively address youth loitering and the misuse of elevators and fire extinguishers, as well as drug use and fighting, at the Kent Sounder Station. The bike unit also helped identify several youths that were under investigation for violent crimes. 

As a result of these efforts, loitering has decreased at the Kent Sounder Station. As the school year gets underway, the bike unit is re-emphasizing the Kent Sounder station area to maintain the safety improvements that they’ve made there. 

Throughout the Sound Transit system, bike unit members can suspend violators who abuse or don’t use the transit system as intended. 

The Sound Transit Police bike unit is also collaborative, working with other agencies to respond to different situations. These include Sound Transit Police resource officers, the Therapeutic Response Unit, the Salvation Army, the King County Prosecutor’s Office and King County diversion programs. 

And that’s one of the challenges, Sgt. Nazariya says, as officers triage incidents with warnings, diversion programs, mental health professionals and offers of services or, finally, enforcement. And transit misdemeanors are grounds for jail time per an agreement between the King County Sherriff’s Office and the county jail. 

“We want commuters to feel our transit system is safe. That can be because they see a transit officer, or it can be when they don’t see a transit officer because misuse of the system is not occurring,” Nazariya said. 

The bike unit is appealing to officers looking for a different way of promoting public safety. Only one of seven deputies on the team came from within the Sound Transit Police. The others came from elsewhere in the sheriff’s office. Another officer is set to join the team in 2025.