The Washington Metro Transit Pouce: Keeping the Community Safe Interview with Daniel Hall
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The Washington Metro Transit PoUce: Keeping the Community Safe Interview with Daniel Hall Nicole White U.S. History, David Brandt 2/5/2005 statement of Purpose The purpose ofthis oral history project is to offer a personal account of the beginning years of the Washington Area Transit system and its police department, through an interview with retired Metro Transit Deputy Chief Police, Daniel Hall. Hall was one of the first members of the Washington Metro Transit Police Department and his direct involvement with Metro helps to provide a very detailed account of the creation, growth, and changes that the Washington Metro and its police department have experienced over the years, and the effect that it has had on its surrounding community. Biography of Daniel Hall Daniel Deidrich Hall was bom in Cleveland, Ohio in 1948 and was raised in a middle class communis onthe East Side of Cleveland with his two sisters, his cousin, and his parents. He has hved in Cleveland, Ohio; Reading, Pennsylvania; Centreville, Virginia; and Silver Spring, Maryland. Daniel Hall graduated from Glenville High School and studied at the Universi^ of Cleveland, the F.B.I. Academy and the Southern Police Institute. After High school, Daniel Hall became the first Afiican American technician to work for the N.C.R. (The National Cash Register Company), and he later was drafted into the marines. Preferring not to serve in the Marines, he enhstedhimself for a four-year term in the U.S. Army. He served in the U.S. Army from August 1968 to April 1974. Furthermore, he tempormily served as the bodyguard for His Imperial Majesty while stationed in Ethiopia, where he was deployed twice. While on KP duty, he volunteered to pmticipate in a two-week intensive leadership program. Had he not volunteered for this program he would have been deployed to Vietnam during the time of the Vietnam War. While in the military. Hall received police training. Subsequently, he became one of the first members of the Washington Area Metro Trmisit Police Department. On March 22, 1976, he began working with Metro. This was three months prior to the opening of Metro in June of 1976. He made the first felony arrest of the Metro Transit Police. He received the General Mmiager's Award in 1987 for reducing crime in the parking lots. Through his years with the Transit Police, he held various rankings of; sergeant, lieutenant, commander of the Criminal Investigation Division, Captain, and Deputy Chief. He has three children: Daniel Willimii Hall II, Tyish Sowteem, and David Deidrich Hall, and he is now married to Nuria Fernandez. Hall has retired from the Metro Transit Police Depmtment mid is now residing in Silver Spring, MD. Hall, being one of the first members of the Metro Transit Police, was one of the young men and women who helped shape and build the Transit Police system at Metro into what it is now. Historical Contextualization Washington Metropolitan Transit Police Department: Protecting and Uniting the Community From the early 20th century through the 1940s, Washingtonians dremiied of a subway system comparable to Boston's or Philadelphia's. The first suggestion for a rapid transit system, in 1959, entailed the idea of rail trmisit being foiled with the massive system of highways. But following the election of 1960, President Kennedy gave govemment positions to highway opponents who advocated using the rail system as a substitute for new freeways. They considered mmiy options, however, after initial defeat in 1963, in 1965 Kennedy's appointees convinced Congress to consent to a modest rail system that did not threaten highways at all (Schrag). This transit system (that made cross-town travel quick and easy) eventually became one of the most up-to-date subway systems in America (Washington: Past and Present). This transit system, which came to be known as Metro, helped to tie the areas of Washington D.C, Virginia, and Maryland together, and has been serving the purpose of simple mass transit for many years, and it still serves that purpose to this day. This Metro system has come an incredibly long way in uniting and improving the quality of transportation in its surrounding areas mid has been able to do so while maintaining clean facilities and an incredibly low crime rate, which cmi be credited to the work done by the Metro Transit Police. In 1960, President Dwight Eisenhower signed the National Capital Transportation Act, which created the National Capital Transportation Agency (NCTA). NCTA's priority was to develop a rapid rail system for Washington, DC. The NCTA developed a plmi in 1962 that was approved by President Lyndon Johnson. He authorized $431 million to create the Washington Metropolitan Area Trmisit Authority (WMATA), which replaced the NCTA in 1967 and still governs Washington's Metro system today (Washington D.C). With the passage of the 1965 act, plminers made their focal point the District of Columbia. Then in 1966, Congress transferred plmining power from a federal agency to a public authority: the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA). WMATA representatives from the District of Columbia, Mmyland, and Virginia looked for a regional system with service in every direction. The planners examined several alternatives. In early 1968, the authority approved a 98-mile regional system, nmiiing it Metro (Schrag). Metro was built and approved in 1968, however following events necessitated some alterations. After the D.C. riots of April 1968,where an outraged public bumed down many D.C. buildings in response to the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the District of Columbia officials rerouted the mid-city line in an attempt to encourage the rebuilding of those burned-out areas. In 1977 and 1978, the federal govemment insisted that local governments reconsider the unbuilt portion of the system. Only in early 2001 did WMATA complete all the lines planned in 1968 (Schrag). Beginning in the late 1950's, engineers painstakingly thought of all possible methods of vehicles. Government engineers rejected monorails--which would require larger, more expensive tunnels. They also rejected the idea of having rubber-tired trains, which are fine for all-urban systems but which do not do as well on long, suburban straight-aways. They settled on a more traditional, duo rail, steel-wheel vehicles with a low-maintenance exterior (Schrag). Though Metro's engineers were fairly cautious when it came to new technology, they were confident that advmices in electronics would allow them to automate much of the system, minimizing labor costs and increasing efficiency. Though people operate trains, in theory they can be completely controlled from a central control room. Furthermore, hoping to avoid the dirt mid chaos of the New York subway, Washington's planners looked to Toronto's new subway as a model. Their early concepts promised clean, bright stations, but they lacked the drama of the new Dulles Airport, 25 miles west of Washington. In 1966, President Lyndon Johnson called for architecturally significant stations. By the summer of 1968, engineers were almost ready to break ground, but they were delayed by Congress, which insisted that the District of Columbia first begin its freeway construction. Groundbre^ing finally took place on 9 December 1969. For Metro's builders, the human environment was as great a challenge as any natural obstacle. Mmiy residential neighborhoods favored the transit system, just as long as some other neighborhood got the stations mid their parking lots. Downtown merchants complained that construction scared away customers. To address some of these concerns, engineers worked to dampen noise, assess environmental impacts, mid preserve historic structures along the routes. With this new creation of a mass trmisit system in a relatively high population area, a police force was necessary to maintain order in the Metro region mid surrounding areas. The Metropolitan Transit Police Depmtment has mi authorized strength of three hundred mid eighty sworn and twenty-three civilian personnel. Officers provide a variety of law enforcement and public safety services on the Metrorail and Metrobus systems in the Washington Metropolitan Area. Metro Trmisit Police Officers have jurisdiction mid arrest powers throughout the 1,500 square mile Transit Zone, for crimes that occur on or against Transit Authority facilities. The Metro Transit Police Department is the only tri- jurisdictional police agency in the country. The Metro Transit Police serves a population of 3.2 million (Metro Transit Police). The Washington Area Metro Transit Authority operates the second largest rail transit system, and the fifth largest bus network in the world. Metrorail and Metrobus serve a population of 3.5 million people within a 1,500 square-mile area. The transit zone consists of the District of Columbia, suburban Marylmid counties, and in Virginia, the cities of; Arlington, Fairfax, Loudon, Alexandria, Fairfax, and Falls Church. Overall, 42 percent of those working in the center core - Washington and parts of Arlington County - use mass transit (Interstate Compact). However, Metro did not always envelop this much area. In fact, Metro has only been in existence for less than thirty yems. On Mmch 27, 1976; six years, three months, mid twenty-three days after groundbreaking, Metrorail had its opening day. More than 51,000 persons rode free over the 4.2 miles of Metro's Phase 1. Five stations were opened onthe Red Line from Rhode Island Avenue to Fmragut North. On March 29, 1976, the first day of revenue service, nineteen thousand, nine hundred mid thirteen passengers rode metro on 188 trips. The system was open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays, and it was closed on weekends. On June 4, 1976, President Ford signed a bill authorizing the creation of the Metro Transit Police (Metro at a glance).