A new effort to outfit all Metro buses with cameras is underway as the King County Council considers where to get up to seven million dollars to pay for it.

Metro Police Major Dave Jutilla told the council this week the cameras are a huge crime deterrent. Metro says 44 percent of its buses currently have cameras. The goal is to get the entire fleet outfitted by 2021. Will bus cameras stop all crime? No, of course not.

How many criminal incident occurs on Metro buses?

There were 4,188 security incidents reported by operators in 2015. That equates to about 12 incidents per day, among 400,000 daily riders &#8212 or nearly 122 million annual rides.

Common issues range from sleepers who won’t leave the bus, verbal abuse, threats against the driver, fare evasion, and unruly or disturbing behavior.

In 2015, Metro reported: • 77 operator assaults, ranging from spitting on a driver, or throwing something, to striking an operator.
• 12 passenger assaults
• 273 passenger-vs-passenger physical disturbances
• 2,164 arrests and infractions by Metro Transit Police &#8212 in ranking order: warrants, alcohol, fare evasion, drugs, unlawful bus conduct. These enforcement actions occur on buses, bus shelters/zones and transit facilities.