Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Security topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
CTA security reports anti-smoking missions and Action K9 engagements; committee raises public-health and equity questions
Summary
CTA General Manager of Security Eddie Winters reported on targeted anti-smoking missions, Action K9 deployments and bus-specific missions. Staff gave counts of citations and interactions; committee members asked that smoking be prioritized as a public‑health issue and suggested audio/QR options for signage.
Eddie Winters, CTA general manager of security, briefed the ADA advisory committee on the agency’s anti-smoking and code-of-conduct missions, Action K9 team deployments and bus missions.
Winters told the committee that specialized anti-smoking missions have been conducted on multiple lines and that enforcement is a joint effort among CTA operations, private security contractors, and the Chicago Police Department. During the mission period Winters cited to the committee, CTA reported 27 citations for smoking, 16 for open containers, 7 for car-to-car movement and 14 other citations; the security update also listed 11 arrests (10 for outstanding warrants). Staff said 79 smoking complaints logged in the CTA chatbot had been acted upon during missions and that Action K9 teams had conducted scores of engagements on the Red Line: Winters cited more than 1,200 engagements on the Red Line in 2025 with the most frequent categories being one-seat violations (694), smoking (68), group activity (65), medical assistance (51), and vandalism (48).
Committee members probed resources and priorities. Several members argued smoking should be treated differently from other code-of-conduct violations because of the public-health risks of smoke exposure in enclosed rail cars and stations. Members asked how smoking-focused missions were prioritized against other enforcement tasks and whether CTA could do more real‑time outreach when incidents are reported through the chatbot.
Veronica Galanese, CTA chief operating officer, described the agency’s combination of chatbot reporting, operator announcements and staffed Action K9 missions as the current approach and said CTA is looking to expand real-time engagement tools. Committee members suggested interim technical fixes — such as adding QR codes to digital signs so a rider could access audio alerts or sign-posted audio recordings — and asked whether staff were prioritizing non-law-enforcement responses for people who are homeless or experiencing crisis.
Winters and Galanese told the committee the security staff do not themselves issue tickets and that citation issuance is handled through appropriate municipal channels when violations meet the threshold for formal citations. The committee did not vote on security policy during the presentation; members asked CTA to return with additional detail about real‑time complaint handling and the agency’s prioritization framework for health-related code violations.
