This post was updated June 1 at 11:59 p.m.

Los Angeles Metro will soon have its first chief of police and emergency management.

Metro announced in a May 7 statement that William Scott, who was the San Francisco Police Department’s chief for eight years and worked for LAPD for 27 years, will lead the new Transit Community Public Safety Department. Scott will officially start in the role June 23, according to the statement.

Scott and the public safety department will lead Metro’s security coordination for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, 2027 Super Bowl and 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games, according to the statement.

Maya Pogoda, a senior manager for Metro media relations, said the main objective in establishing the department was to give LA Metro better control and ensure its riders’ safety.

“The primary goal is definitely about ensuring that our riders are and feel safe,” she said. “It was determined by both leadership and the board of directors that bringing this in-house would give us greater control and greater flexibility and better able to serve that unique population of transit riders.”

Jacob Wasserman, a research program manager at the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies, said the current partnership between Metro and its contracted law enforcement partners – including the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and LAPD – has been working poorly. He added that law enforcement has resisted listening to Metro about how it should use its resources, and said an in-house police force will signal a cultural change.

Establishing the public safety department is expected to take five years, but the department is expected to gradually replace Metro’s law enforcement partners during that time, Pogoda said.

Jorja Leap, an adjunct professor of social welfare at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, said police enforcement visibility on Metro trains will likely increase with the department’s advent.

Leap added that she believes the department should seek feedback from Metro users about safety and research the effectiveness of its police force in ensuring safety.

“You need them (riders) involved in decision-making,” Leap said. “You need scholarly research to evaluate whether or not the cops are doing a good job.”

Michael Griffin, the co-director of the Bruins for Better Transit 2025 U-Pass renewal campaign, said addressing people’s safety concerns is important to increasing ridership, especially among students. Griffin, a third-year biology student, added that he is curious to see how the establishment of a police force might aid that goal.

Leap said the need for a safer Metro system, especially in preparation for citywide events, is not new. She added that she believes the city should have moved faster in implementing safety measures for riders.

“We knew the Olympics were coming a year ago. We knew the Olympics were coming two years ago,” she said. “We knew riders were in danger two years ago.”

Leap also said there are alternatives to law enforcement, such as using community violence intervention workers, who approach problems without force, to increase public safety.

Metro also enacted a Metro Ambassador program in September 2022 to promote safety, Wasserman said. The ambassadors aid riders in using Metro systems by providing directions and information regarding fares as well as reporting maintenance issues and safety incidents, according to Metro.

The Metro Ambassador program is currently separate from Metro’s current safety department, Wasserman said. He added that having an independent safety system like the ambassador program is important because some people may not trust the police.

Wasserman said he believes people will not ride on Metro unless they believe it is safe.

“If you don’t feel safe, you’re not going to ride,” he said. “If you do feel safe, you still may not ride, but it’s a necessary precondition.”

Wasserman said Metro could also increase security for riders by improving physical infrastructure – such as by building new streetlights and clean benches – and reducing wait times by increasing service, especially at night.

“It’s important to think about public safety as more than just police – and even as more than just people, ambassadors included,” he said. “It’s about infrastructure too, and service, so I think Metro is doing that too.”