4 people arrested in effort to make King County transit stations safer

Four people were arrested Wednesday in an enforcement that is part of a King County initiative to create a safer Sound Transit.

Three of the four people were known drug dealers, according to a news release from King County Executive Dow Constantine’s Office on Friday. Officials said the fourth suspect had a warrant for assault. Deputies also seized drugs and two handguns, one of which was stolen.

The operation is part of a larger initiative called “Operation Safe Transit,” which was launched by the King County Sheriff’s Office (KCSO) on May 1 as a pilot program, stated the release. The operation is meant to target transit spots like bus stops and station platforms.

“The ultimate goal here is to abate crime and fear of crime on our transit system,” King County Sheriff Patti Cole-Tindal said via the release. “We are doing whatever we can to remove potentially threatening and harmful situations and take the most dangerous people off the streets, the trains and the buses. We want our message to be clear — if people don’t behave lawfully, there will be consequences.”

Coming up: Sound Transit preparing for Lynnwood light rail opening on Aug. 30

According to the executive’s office, transit riders will see a larger police and security presence around Third Avenue, the King County Courthouse, Metro bus stops and the downtown transit tunnel. Bike teams from Metro Transit and Sound Transit will also be present.

The release states that aside from the four arrests, “Operation Safe Transit” has led to 82 arrests.

“We remain committed to collaboratively work with our partner agencies to ensure our transit system is safe and used as intended, while simultaneously drawing upon internal and external resources to respond appropriately to a variety of circumstances,” Sound Transit Acting Chief Safety Officer Branden Porter said via the release.

Sound Transit has seen three violent attacks this year, including two homicides. Sound Transit’s Interim CEO told KIRO Newsradio in May he knows no one will ride the trains if they don’t feel safe.

Sound Transit CEO on recent violent attacks: It’s ‘my job to restore confidence’ in public transit

“I understand why when you read the newspapers or see on the media the kind of unfortunate incidents we’ve had the last three months with two stabbings, one shooting,” he told KIRO Newsradio. “I totally understand why people made that makes people uncomfortable.”

There have been 44 assaults on light rail this year, including the two homicides and an attempted murder. Sound Transit has more than doubled its security force since 2022 and plans to add more people as it works with King County.

Contributing: Chris Sullivan, KIRO Newsradio

Julia Dallas is a content editor at MyNorthwest. You can read her stories here. Follow Julia on X here and email her here.