WMATA
After the school bell rings, riders should expect to see more Metro Transit Police officers at Metrorail stations near schools, and on trains and buses with large student populations.
With schools back in session, the Metro Transit Police Department (MTPD) will increase patrols to monitor students as they travel through the Metro system during after school hours. The officers will encourage students to keep moving, discourage them from loitering and remind them about appropriate behavior while riding Metro. Officers also will reprimand students who are violating laws and regulations, such as fighting, littering, eating or drinking. Students caught breaking laws will receive written warnings or possibly face arrest.
Oh, of course, thank you, Metro. Because fighting, littering, eating, and drinking are totally only behaviors under-18s engage in. So all those times I’m certain I’ve encountered very rude and disruptive adults on the Metro, it was just my imagination?
Metro Transit Police also have set up a special hotline voicemail for riders to report disorderly conduct of minors under the age of 18. Riders are encouraged to call 202-962-2118 to report disruptive behavior. Callers will be asked to leave a detailed message with the time, date, location and description of the incident. Officers are distributing business cards with the hotline number so that riders can keep the phone number handy.
The initiative intends to reinforce messages about acceptable behavior and set expectations for students who ride Metro to and from school, and address concerns from riders about disruptive minors.
A hotline? Oh, isn’t that cute. So if someone 18 or older bothers me on the Metro, then you guys don’t care? Or is it again just my imagination because only those under 18 ever act immaturely or are disruptive? That seems to be WMATA’s clear message here. Not like those “disruptive minors”, apparently the only kind of disruptive people (does Metro consider them people?), aren’t still paying their train fare like anyone else. Nah, let’s scapegoat them and assume they’ll only act up. I suppose the youth who do not act up on the Metro are also just my imagination.
I’m thinking I might call that hotline to scold them for having a hotline specifically aimed at reporting disruptive young people as opposed to disruptive people of all ages. Might be fun!
Then again, looking back at that quoted bit, it only mentions people under 18 in the first line. So maybe the hotline really is for all ages then and they want to paint it to be about cracking down on those horrible young people? The rest of the article eases up a little on the blatant ageism, talking about wanting to keep everybody safe, though still cleverly skirting ever implying adults are jerks on the train sometimes. And that clever skirting just aids the scapegoating of youth and gives adults a free pass to be inconsiderate of others, an important piece of the foundation of adult privilege.
Anyway, here’s the info for the press release:
Media contact for this news release: Angela Gates or Lisa Farbstein at 202-962-1051.
For all other inquiries, please call customer service at 202-637-7000.
If you’d like to break the monotony of the anti-youth complaints they get and be one of the few and proud youth supporters stating our side of things, go for it!
