CTA Submits Enhanced Security Plan to FTA in Lieu of 2025 Transit Crime

The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) submitted its Revised Security Enhancement Plan to the Federal Transit Authority March 10. The plan was created in collaboration with the Chicago Police Department (CPD) and the Cook County Sheriff’s Office, according to a CTA press statement.

The plan is a formal response to an Federal Transit Authority Special Directive issued December 2025, the response explaining how the CTA will “significantly expand” December’s security surge, according to the press statement.

The plan builds on CTA’s holistic, multi-layered approach to system security and includes a 75% increase in monthly system policing hours, aggressive crime reduction targets and expanded social service support, the CTA wrote in an email to The Phoenix.

“CTA is continuously looking at ways to provide a comfortable transit environment for both riders and employees, and this plan helps deliver a sustainable security model that puts people first,” the email said.

More details of these efforts include 34% more hours from CPD’s public transit section, double the off-duty officers patrolling CTA per CPD’s Voluntary Special Employment Program and 4,400 monthly hours of patrol from the Cook County Sheriff’s Office on all CTA rail lines, according to the press statement.

Reducing crime on public transportation is now a top priority, as violent offenses on public transit increased last year despite other categories of violent crime dropping, according to an email State Attorney Eileen O’Niell Burke sent to the State’s Attorney’s Office staff March 25.

“Safe public transportation is essential for thriving communities. To meet this moment, we are stepping up to better protect the thousands of riders and transit workers who use the CTA,” Burke wrote.

Two new protocols were launched in response to these needs, with the first being an internal CTA task force including 36 assistant state attorneys and Investigators from a cross-section of bureaus — the Criminal Prosecutions Bureau, Special Victims Bureau, Multi-Jurisdiction Bureau, the Juvenile Justice Bureau and the Legal Resource Bureau — who will participate in specialized training with the CTA and CPD and serve as an internal resource to strengthen transit-related prosecutions.

CTA is also in frequent communication with the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office about security initiatives, the statement said.

The second is a new CTA Crime Pretrial Release Conditions Protocol, which adds an additional layer of protection for transit riders and workers. The protocol builds on the existing policy in the State’s Attorney’s Office requiring assistant state attorneys to seek pretrial detention for all violent offenses committed on public transit. 

In cases where a defendant isn’t detained, this protocol directs assistant state attorneys to pursue court-ordered restrictions on access to transit systems and property, according to Burke’s email.

CTA crime reduction has been prevalent since the start of 2026. CTA Acting President Nora Leerhsen said she believes the plan represents her commitment to employees and riders.

Leerhsen assumed office at the beginning of 2025.

“The January and February results from CTA and CPD’s joint security surge have been promising, and we’ve built on that momentum by creating a sustainable security model that puts people first,” Leerhsen said.

Total transit worker assaults fell 25% in January and 29% in February when compared to the six-month average leading up to the start of the security surge December 2025, according to the statement.

When comparing the period from the start of the surge in December through the end of February 2026, with the same period in the previous year, violent crime on buses plummeted 19%, systemwide crime dropped 9% and incidents of crime on CTA’s rail system fell 9%.

Despite these statistics, there hasn’t been a noticeable reduction in transit crime, which seems to have gotten worse overall, according to fourth-year bioinformatics major Grace Finger.

For Finger, Chicago’s public transportation system is a highlight of the city, since a car isn’t necessary to get around the city. This is great, until she feels unsafe on the CTA lines and doesn’t use them because they’re unsafe.

It only benefits the stability of the CTA to invest in transportation safety, according to Finger.

“By not addressing transit crime, it’s kind of wasting all the infrastructure and making it difficult for people to rely on transportation,” Finger said.

For second-year psychology and theology major Meredith Beer, a safe CTA line would remove the need to be vigilant and feelings of discomfort while riding. 

Beer said she watched her friend get harassed by a man on the train April 11. She said no one else on the train realized it was happening, and it wasn’t until another man addressed him that he stopped.

Beer said she thinks an increase in police presence would drive down crime rates on public transportation.

“I think having a police presence not on just platforms, but also the ticket scanning areas would make me feel safer,” Beer said.

Bioinformatics graduate student Megan Martinez said she knows the CTA lines and buses are a lifeline for many Chicago residents, and is glad funding is being part towards an increase in safety measures.

In regards to the Trump administration’s funding pause for CTA infrastructure projects in October, Martinez said she worried for those who rely heavily on public transportation and how financial cuts would impact the availability, hours and safety of CTA lines and buses.

“If it’s inconvenient for me, a college student who doesn’t have a real job, I can only imagine night shift employees would be screwed over.”

Martinez said she thinks an increase in safety measures will improve overall accessibility on CTA transportation.

The initiatives have already had positive effects on transit stations near Loyola, according to the CTA’s email.

“The revised security plan lays out strategic deployments as well as system-wide initiatives, so it is accurate to say Loyola stations, and lines Loyola students frequent, such as the Red Line, will see — and are already seeing — the effects of these plans,” the email said.