This year, Cherriots drivers and security workers were hit, threatened and shown guns tucked into waistbands.
Between April and June, the number of reported assaults against transit operators more than doubled compared to the quarter before
The Salem Area Mass Transit District, known as Cherriots, reviews reportable assault data each quarter. The most recent report, presented in an Aug. 22 board meeting, showed an increase from eight reported assaults in the first three months of the year to 22 from April through June.
That brings the total number of reported assaults to 55 for the year.
Cherriots includes non-physical assaults, like verbal threats, in the assault data. Sixteen of the recorded assaults throughout the year were physical. Recent ones included punches, a finger injury to a driver while someone attempted to force their way onto a bus and a security guard having soda thrown into their face, according to the report.
It’s a relatively new system of reporting the assaults, said Allan Pollock, Cherriots general manager. The agency began incorporating it into its annual security reports last year. They’re still looking into the causes, and potential solutions of the increase, he said.
The board will hear more information at the annual security report at its Sept. 26 meeting.
“These types of activities fluctuate, but it has, if you look at quarter one to quarter four, it has doubled,” Pollock said.
He said that there’s still unknowns about the reason for the increase and he doesn’t have the data to prove theories yet. Causes could be anything from the reporting process getting better to more people being outside in the warm weather.
Of the 22 reported assaults in the last quarter, nine were against bus drivers and the rest were security officers. Cherriots contracts its security officers through PPC Solutions Inc. which provides reports to Cherriots. There are two to four security officers in downtown Salem at a time, and one at the Keizer Transit Center, according to spokeswoman Patricia Feeny.
Most of the assault reports come to Cherriots from the officers and bus drivers themselves, Pollock said.
Pollock said employees can access mental health experts through the workers’ compensation process, even if they haven’t experienced assault.
The Amalgamated Transit Union Local 757, the Portland-based union which represents the transit district’s employees, did not respond to requests for comment from Salem Reporter.
At the beginning of the year, Cherriots listed improving transit safety on its top list of priorities for the state legislative session. Pollock said they’re still working on the agenda.
Cherriots is currently recruiting for a new chief safety officer, Pollock said.
That officer “will look more globally and locally, working with other agencies to kind of address what I’ll call society issues, transit issues and being a better partner working with the city of Salem, and counties,” he said.
Contact reporter Abbey McDonald: [email protected] or 503-575-1251.
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Abbey McDonald joined the Salem Reporter in 2022. She previously worked as the business reporter at The Astorian, where she covered labor issues, health care and social services. A University of Oregon grad, she has also reported for the Malheur Enterprise, The News-Review and Willamette Week.
