CA: LA Metro names new chief of transit police: former San Francisco police chief Bill Scott

LA Metro took a major step toward creating its own, in-house police department that will soon patrol transit stations, buses and trains in place of local law enforcement by announcing its new chief of police on Wednesday, May 7.

William “Bill” Scott, San Francisco police chief, was named the Los Angeles County transit agency’s top cop in a surprise announcement made at LA Metro’s security operations headquarters in downtown Los Angeles.

Scott served the past eight years as the San Francisco police chief and resigned from his post earlier Wednesday. He spent 27 years serving in the Los Angeles Police Department, including a stint overseeing the LAPD South Bureau.

“I’m ready. I’m grateful. And I’m all in,” said Scott, who was introduced as the transit agency’s chief of police and emergency management. He will begin on June 23 and is tasked with building a new, transit-only police force from scratch.

Earlier in the day, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie and Scott announced the chief was departing his Bay Area role, declaring that that the homicide rate and overall crime had declined broadly during his tenure. He earned about $290,000 in regular pay, or about $365,540 in total pay and benefits, according to transparentcalifornia’s website.

Metro’s posted salary range for the new chief of its yet-to-be-formed police force was from $292,968 to $439,420, according to Metro spokesperson Maya Pogoda. Scott’s starting salary was not released.

Metro’s 13-member board of directors voted on June 22, 2023 to pursue the creation of an in-house transit police department that would replace contracts with its current law enforcement agencies: LAPD, LA County Sheriff’s Department and Long Beach Police Department.

An implementation plan was formulated by staff and accepted by the board in November 2024. Directors said the new Metro police force would allow the agency to tailor services to hot spots, enable more control over placement of officers, and provide better accountability.

During the past two years, Metro experienced a spate of assaults, a bus hijacking and riders complaining about passengers taking drugs and often sleeping on train cars and stations. In response, the agency stepped up patrols and added its own Metro Transit Security officers, homeless outreach teams and Metro Ambassadors, the latter are not armed, wear bright green shirts, carry cell phones and report problems to law enforcement.

While crime has gone down on the system and ridership has increased for more than two years, directors wanted more control over law enforcement.

Many directors said the law enforcement officers — a patchwork of three different patrol forces — could not be tracked or placed where Metro needed them. LAPD officers worked on overtime, signaling to some that they only did the extra work for the money.

“For us, it was about deployment. If they are needed elsewhere, sometimes they would not be exactly where you needed them to be,” said LA County Supervisor and Metro Board Chair Janice Hahn. She said Scott would build a transit-only law enforcement force “with more accountability and more transparency — and we can now build a culture we wanted.”

LA Metro CEO Stephanie Wiggins, who hired Scott, said the agency’s law enforcement network became outdated as new lines are opened and ridership grows. “Our system is larger now than it ever has been and it will only keep growing. We have different needs than we’ve had in the past,” she said.

One plus is that Scott knows the neighborhoods of the city of Los Angeles served by Metro light-rail trains, subways and buses. Wiggins also mentioned that Scott also oversaw the San Francisco Municipal Railway, known as the Muni.

“I know the neighborhoods and dynamics of what is at stake. It is about ensuring our riders feel safe and supported,” Scott said. “When riders feel safe, they ride.”

When answering a reporter’s question about how to patrol 2,200 buses on Metro’s vast system, including a bus route where a sexual assault recently took place, Scott said: “I expect we will have officers and others to help people stay safe on buses.” He then added: “We can’t stop every crime from happening.”

Scott, known for progressive reforms while in San Francisco, referred to the unhoused who often ride transit as a mobile shelter. “Sometimes enforcement is the answer; sometimes it is not,” he said.

Transitioning from the current law enforcement patrols to its own force will take time and cooperation. Scott said he is acquainted with L.A. County Sheriff Robert Luna, LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell and Beverly Hills Police Chief Mark G. Stainbrook. LA Metro’s new D Line subway extension will be the first subway running through Beverly Hills and is set to open soon.

The Metro plan claims it could create and run an internal police department with 290 field officers for $134.5 million annually, cheaper than the $173 million a year it currently pays for law enforcement.

Sheriff Robert Luna, in an eight-page letter to Metro’s CEO Stephanie Wiggins, disagreed. He said the study doesn’t account for start-up costs, pensions, facilities nor for liability costs. His analysis shows the idea would cost $433 million more over five years than the status quo.

Many justice groups who regularly give feedback to the board and represent low-income riders of buses and trains said the answer to making riding Metro safer is not about a police force.

“The solution that solves these problems people are seeing on the streets and trains is public services,” said Janet Asante, communications leader with Dignity and Power Now. “With 100% certainty, building out another police force isn’t going to stop any of the problems people think they will solve.”

Metro is the lead transportation planning and funding agency for L.A. County and carries 1 million boardings daily on a fleet of 2,200 low-emission buses and six rail lines.

Mammoth events will be on the horizon in L.A. County as Scott’s new department comes together:

• The Olympics will make their third trip to Los Angeles — and scattered neighboring communities ranging from the San Fernando Valley to Pasadena to Santa Monica, Inglewood and Long Beach — for 16 days in July 2028. LA28 officials say they  they are in the early days of transportation planning for the 2028 games and are still finalizing a master transportation plan. The LA28 said the organizers are trying to create a “transit-first games,” and public transportation will be built into the planning. The goal is to encourage spectators to use public transportation instead of their cars, minimizing traffic on freeways and around venues.

• The Olympics will be followed by the Paralympic Games, involving international athletes with a range of disabilities.
• World football’s 2026 FIFA World Cup will feature soccer matches in the Los Angeles area, one of 16 host cities spreading across North America.
• The Super Bowl will return to Inglewood’s SoFi Stadium in February 2027 following the 2026 season. NFL owners voted in December at the NFL Winter League Meeting in Dallas to approve the site.

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