
Crime and punishment. Just one part of the discussion held during Metro's board of directors meeting.
Crime on Metro was high on this morning's agenda. Recent figures reveal a 40 percent increase in robberies throughout the system and a 5 percent increase in overall crime on Metro in the same period.
Metro General Manager John Catoe says those figures have been on the decline since 2005, and offers at least one reason for the sudden uptick. "It's a national trend; with items like iPods and other electronic devices that people have, the bad guys are trying to steal them," said Catoe.
"We have a robbery squad of plain clothes officers who are out there and sometime posing as decoys for the robbery suspect" said Jeff Delinsky, deputy chief for the Metro Transit Police. "We've locked up 96 people so far this year for robbery in the subway system."
The chief adds that they'll also increase the number of surveillance cameras in the system.
Elliott Francis reports...

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