By MES Dispatch Staff
The Briefing
- LA Metro’s newly formed Department of Public Safety received 950 applications within the first 24 hours of opening its recruitment portal on May 28, 2026, with that figure growing to 2,468 applicants by June 11.
- The LA Metro Board of Directors voted in June 2024 to establish an in-house transit police department, citing concerns over insufficient and undirected patrol coverage from the LAPD and Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
- DPS Chief William Scott, the former San Francisco police chief hired in 2025 to lead the new department, plans to hire a maximum of 630 sworn officers — roughly four times the number of applicants received so far — with a goal of 60 officers by December and 120 within one year.
- LA Metro is offering entry-level officer salaries of up to $132,499 annually and lateral-hire salaries of up to $142,521, compared to a starting salary range of $86,192 to $91,224 for entry-level LAPD officers.
- Cost estimates for the new department have varied significantly: a 2023 Metro report projected $135.4 million annually based on roughly 300 officers, a 2024 estimate set the cost at $192.6 million for 630 officers, and Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna has projected an operating cost of $227.5 million annually, disputing Metro’s projected savings.
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — LA Metro’s newly established Department of Public Safety has received nearly 2,500 job applications in the first two weeks since opening its recruitment portal, far exceeding the agency’s expectations as it works to build an in-house police force intended to eventually replace contracted patrols from the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
According to Metro, the recruitment portal received 950 applications within its first 24 hours after launching May 28. By June 11, that number had grown to 2,468, according to DPS Chief William Scott, the former San Francisco police chief hired by Metro in 2025 to lead the new department. “I thought we would get some traction,” Scott said. “But that was beyond our expectations — in a good way.” Metro CEO Stephanie Wiggins called the recruitment milestone an important step in building out the agency’s new department.
The LA Metro Board of Directors voted in June 2024 to create the department after years of criticism over patrol coverage provided under contract by the LAPD and the Sheriff’s Department. Board members and Metro officials have said officers assigned to transit duty under those contracts often remained stationed at depots or in patrol vehicles rather than actively patrolling buses and trains, and that Metro lacked the authority to direct how those officers were deployed.
Scott said the department’s competitive compensation is one factor driving application volume. According to Metro’s recruitment website, entry-level DPS officers can earn up to $132,499 annually, while lateral hires with prior law enforcement experience can earn up to $142,521. By comparison, entry-level LAPD officers earn between $86,192 and $91,224, according to the LAPD’s recruitment website. Scott said the applicant pool includes officers from other departments as well as approximately 500 current Metro employees, including bus operators and members of Metro’s existing security division.
Scott said he intends to hire 60 sworn officers by December and an additional 60 within six months after that, with a target of 120 officers hired within the department’s first year. Deployment will occur in phases, with DPS officers gradually replacing LAPD and Sheriff’s Department personnel as the new department scales toward its authorized maximum of 630 sworn officers by 2031 or sooner — a force that would be larger than the approximately 350-officer transit police department operated by the Bay Area Rapid Transit system.
Cost projections for the new department have varied considerably across planning documents. A Metro report released in June 2023 estimated the in-house department would cost $135.4 million annually and operate at 22% less cost than current law enforcement contracts, based on a planning figure of approximately 300 officers. When the Metro board approved the department’s formation in 2024, the projected annual cost had risen to $192.6 million for a 630-officer force — slightly below that year’s law enforcement contract costs, according to Metro spokesperson Maya Pogoda. For the 2026-2027 fiscal year, Metro’s law enforcement contracting costs are budgeted at $209.5 million as part of a $430 million total public safety allocation within the agency’s $9.7 billion overall budget. Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna has disputed Metro’s cost projections, stating in 2023 that the agency’s figures omitted approximately $170.5 million in start-up, pension, liability, and infrastructure costs, and placing the true annual operating cost at approximately $227.5 million.
Metro reported that start-up costs for the department totaled $5.1 million in fiscal year 2025-2026, with an additional $5.8 million allocated for 2026-2027, for a combined total of $10.9 million — a figure that does not yet include officer salaries, as the department is not yet operational. Janet Asante, campaign manager for the advocacy group Dignity & Power Now, criticized the decision to form a new police force, arguing the funding would be better directed toward mental health and substance abuse services and homelessness outreach. Metro has reported that systemwide violent crime declined for a second consecutive year in 2025, reaching its lowest level since 2021, and that overall crime in March 2026 was down 13.5% compared to March 2025. LA Metro previously operated its own police department in the 1990s before those functions were absorbed by the LAPD and the Sheriff’s Department in 1997.