Metro Also Getting Some Of That Stimulus Funding That HPD Missed

By Richard Connelly Mon., Aug. 3 2009 at 5:06 PM

Categories: Tales from Transit

Courtesy Cushing Memorial Library & Archives

Last week we told you how the police force of Milo, Maine (Motto: "Such As It Is") was receiving more stimulus funds than HPD. Admittedly easy to do, since HPD was getting zero stimulus funds.

Now the snub gets worse: Metro will be feeding at the trough that is blocked to HPD.

The agency will get $3 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, one of 15 such agencies in the country to get money.

"METRO's police department will use the money to hire 10 police officers -- two of the spots will be filled with explosives detection canines," spokeswoman Carolina Mendoza says. (Wait, dogs count as cops?)

"Any additional resources will help us to make the system safer," METRO's assistant poloce chief Tim Kelly said in a release. "Police officers are the backbone of what we do. This money will help us get more officers on the force to help with our day-to-day operations, such as conducting random patrols which help deter terrorism and reduce crime."

Two full-time dogs going around the system sniffing for bombs seems a little overboard to us, but then we're not transit experts. We assume that Osama's plan to smuggle an explosive device onto the 82 Westheimer bus is even now being re-thought.

On the other hand, if buying the dogs mean less Metro police shooting wildly around bystanders, maybe it's a good thing.

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