The union for SEPTA’s transit police has sent a third letter to the agency’s board chairman and general manager about the need to hire more officers.
In the past five months, the union has reached out multiple times. In that time they have lost fifteen officers, all while seeing crime increase.
“The best way to address crime is to increase the police presence. That’s where we are. We’re so down in our numbers, that’s why it seems the crimes are going up,” said Troy Parham, the vice president of the Fraternal Order of Transit Police.
Parham has served as a SEPTA Transit officer for 23 years.
“I would ultimately like to see enough officers that when they are deployed there would be an officer in any given time. I want to see us stepping on each other. I want to see a constant flow of police officers,” said Parham. “It seems like just when it can’t get worse it does.”
The FOTP says they are losing good officers and prospective officers to departments with better pay.
“We’re losing quite a few officers to departments that are paying higher salaries. I think the salary has to be addressed immediately,” said Parham.
LINK: https://6abc.com/septa-police-mass-transit-safety-union-fraternal-order-of/11804669/
