Metro’s top security official was fired two days after filing a report with the agency’s inspector general’s office, her lawyer said.
Gina Osborn, a former FBI agent who was the agency’s first security chief, “was summarily terminated by (Chief Executive Officer) Stephanie Wiggins,” said her lawyer, Marc R. Greenberg.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority of Los Angeles County said it does not comment on personnel issues. In a brief memo sent Wednesday to board members and their staff, Wiggins said Osborn “is no longer with the agency.”
“We will immediately begin recruiting efforts for the security manager position,” Wiggins said in the email. Ken Hernandez, deputy director of security, will replace her on an interim basis.
Osborn has rights that protect her from these types of wrongful employment actions, and we are evaluating her litigation options against Ms. Wiggins,” said Greenberg, who worked alongside Osborn when she was with the FBI and he was with the U.S. Attorney’s Office. He said he was investigating a class-action lawsuit.
Inspector General Karen Gorman said she could not comment on pending reports.
This dismissal comes at a crucial time when the department is still struggling to improve security, attract pre-pandemic customers and improve its image in the run-up to the 2028 Olympic Games, which the authorities want to make car-free.
Last week, a man armed with an airsoft gun hijacked a Metro bus, and the transit system has been beset with reports of random crimes, although data shows violent crime in the system is on the rise. drop.
March 20 scene where a man threatened a Metro bus driver with a gun and caused the bus to crash into several parked vehicles and the side of the Ritz-Carton Hotel in downtown Los Angeles .
(OnScene.TV)
Osborn was hired in 2022, overseeing security and law enforcement. His lawyer said the agency “has seen an increase in ridership and a decrease in crime as a result of its efforts.”
She was tasked with reducing crime as the agency emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic and found itself with a large homeless population who used trains as shelter. She pushed to increase the visibility of police, sheriff’s deputies and Metro’s own officers, in an effort to reduce crime, which had increased as drug use became rampant.
During his tenure, Metro added 48 additional security officers to its team and adopted an ambassador program throughout the rail system to guide customers and provide some assistance to the homeless, although it did not not supervised the latter. She was also behind a proposal to create a Metropolitan Police Agency which is still evolving.
She coordinated operations with the three police agencies that patrol the system: the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, the Los Angeles Police Department and the Long Beach Police Department.
“I was surprised to learn she was no longer with Metro,” said sheriff’s Capt. Shawn Kehoe, who heads the sheriff’s transit services office. Tuesday morning, he had several meetings planned with her. He met with her twice, but a Metro staffer announced during his third scheduled meeting that she was no longer with the agency.
Metro is under intense pressure to improve safety for commuters, many of whom feel unsafe on trains, buses and in stations. As ridership continues to grow, Metro’s union representing bus and train operators has pushed the agency to improve conditions by putting up more protective barriers, such as around bus drivers. Metro said a prototype is expected to be released in the coming months.
John M. Ellis, who heads SMART’s local affiliate, the International Assn. The Federation of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transport Workers, representing around 5,000 rail and bus operators, said it had seen an improvement in safety under his leadership, but that there was still much to do.
Metro spokesperson Dave Sotero said, “The safety of bus operators weighs heavily on the minds of everyone at Metro, as does the safety of all of our front-line employees, including operators railways, guards and more.
Osborn wouldn’t be the first in her department to leave abruptly. His former deputy chief, Andrew Black, also a former FBI agent, filed a lawsuit against Metro in 2022, accusing Wiggins of retaliating against him for protesting unsafe working conditions.
Black believes that continued violence and crime will remain Metro’s “hallmark as long as this management continues its indifference to the suffering and plight of unhoused people and its callous disregard for the health and safety of commuters and Metro employees,” according to his lawsuit.
Osborn told her that Wiggins was upset that he had “talked honestly to the bus operators about the problems and offered solutions to protect their health and well-being,” and she ordered him to stop talking to the operators about safety, according to his trial.
Osborn told her that she herself had gotten in trouble with Wiggins “for speaking honestly in the past,” according to the lawsuit. About two months after the incident, he was fired and is seeking more than $5 million in damages.
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