|
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has recognized 17 U.S. rail and public transportation agencies for earning the highest rating—“Gold Standard”—on the latest TSA Baseline Assessment for Security Enhancement (BASE). TSA designed BASE to establish a security standard for individual system security programs and assess progress.
This voluntary, comprehensive review of public transit agency security programs focuses on multiple categories identified by the public transit community as fundamentals for a sound transit security program. They include a review of topics such as an agency’s security plans, training, drills/exercise programs, public outreach efforts, and background checks. The BASE assessment analyzes the security program for each system and identifies vulnerabilities, which the agency then addresses.
TSA developed this program to increase domain awareness, enhance prevention and protection capabilities, and further the response preparedness of public transit systems nationwide.
Among the agencies receiving the honor are:
* Metro, St. Louis, MO;
* Central Ohio Transit Authority, Columbus, OH;
* Regional Transportation District, Denver, CO;
* Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority, Cleveland, OH;
* Hillsborough Area Regional Transit, Tampa, FL;
* IndyGo, Indianapolis, IN;
* Regional Transit Authority, New Orleans, LA;
* North County Transit District, Oceanside, CA;
* Pierce Transit, Lakewood, WA;
* Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority, St. Petersburg, FL;
* Rhode Island Public Transit Authority, Providence, RI;
* Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, Philadelphia, PA;
* Spokane Transit Authority, Spokane, WA; and
* Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, Washington, DC.
Only six other agencies had previously achieved this level of distinction; they were recognized for 2010. |
