By State House News Service – Posted Dec 07, 2011 @ 02:51 PM

Cambridge — Assaults on MBTA employees have risen in recent months, according to interim MBTA general manager Jonathan Davis, and he is working with transit agencies in other states to develop policies to better protect bus and train operators.

According to the MBTA, in 28 percent of the assaults an employee was spit on by a customer. Davis said the bulk of assaults were on bus drivers, and about 40 percent were a result of fare collection efforts. “In order to help identify the offender and prosecute these types of incidents the transit police will be submitting DNA evidence to the crime lab,” Davis said. “The message for this initiative is twofold. One, we want the offenders to know that we take this crime seriously and we will do what it takes to prosecute them, and two, we want our employees to know that we value their service and we will do all we can to protect them and the riding public.”

Davis said that about 40 percent of assaults have been prosecuted. “We will do whatever it takes to protect our employees. We want our employees to know we value their service,” he said. “We will produce a safety assessment report with recommendations in the coming months.” Davis said MBTA officials are working with officials from New York’s MTA and Philadelphia’s SEPTA to “garner lessons learned and determine feasible actions the MBTA can take to further ensure operator safety.”

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