Santa Monica police officers are set to patrol platforms and ride trains at the city's three Metro E Line stations for the first time.

A pending memorandum of understanding (MOU), authorized by the City Council on March 24, would give Santa Monica Police Department officers authority to enforce fares, remove riders who violate Metro's code of conduct, and respond to 911 calls at the Downtown Santa Monica, 17th Street/SMC and 26th Street/Bergamot stations, the Santa Monica Daily Press reported Wednesday, Sept. 23. The MOU has not yet been signed.

Right now, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department patrols E Line stations outside Los Angeles city limits under a contract with Metro. Santa Monica officers have answered emergencies at the stations for years but handed investigations to the Sheriff's Department because the platforms sit on county property.

Council Member Lana Negrete, who said she championed the effort during her time as mayor, called the jurisdictional gap a source of resident frustration.

"Folks are coming off the train and either expressing mental health issues, they're using illegal drugs and have paraphernalia out," Negrete told the Daily Press. "They're littering and loitering in a manner that makes people feel unsafe. Ironically, it's actually not our jurisdiction."

Negrete said she began talks with Metro officials and the Sheriff's Department during the rollout of the tap-to-exit program. The city manager joined later discussions, and Police Chief Darrick Jacob led negotiations on the framework after his appointment to the post, she said.

SMPD leadership met the week of Sept. 23 with the deputy chief of Metro's Department of Public Safety to begin rail safety and transit policing training. Metro requires that training before officers can work on its system. Officers could deploy as soon as the MOU is signed, according to Negrete.

Under the deal, deployment would remain at the discretion of the police chief. The agreement also establishes shared performance metrics. Both SMPD and Metro would track calls for service, response times, crime trends, fare compliance and referrals to social services.

The city has not said how many officers would patrol the stations or how often they would be deployed, as Santa Monica Next previously reported.

Metro is also building its own police force, approved by the Metro board in June 2024 at a projected cost of $192.6 million a year. The agency hopes to reach about 630 officers by 2031 but will rely on contract policing for several years.

Santa Monica's three stations are slated to receive Metro's taller, reinforced fare gates by mid-2027, Negrete said. Metro has reported the new gates significantly reduced crime and more than doubled paid entry at stations where they have been installed.

No signing date has been announced.