Scene spoke with these two officers, who both agreed to share their personal experiences on the condition of anonymity due to an RTA employee policy that forbids employees from talking to the media. If we don't enforce fares, our jobs are in jeopardy.' 'Enforce fares, enforce fares, enforces fares. 'They keep putting pressure on us,' said another officer, Vikram (not his real name). 'People are leaving left and right,' said one officer, Brian (not his real name). These more aggressive fare-enforcement methods have been pushed since March, they said, and have resulted in sinking staff morale and a high degree of turnover. Officers told Scene that they're now expected to have 10 interactions (that is, to write 10 citations) per eight-hour shift, an unofficial quota that has steadily increased to its current number through 2017 for reasons they can't quite figure out. Yet for the fare-enforcement officers on the 107-strong RTA transit police, 'interactions' have become the primary focus and mission of the job. If an officer responds to a call about a stolen cell phone or deals with everyday incidents such as public intoxication, open containers and disorderly conduct, those aren't interactions. If an officer breaks up a fight between juveniles, that's not an interaction either. If an officer assists an elderly rider with directions, that's not an interaction. In current usage, the terms are interchangeable.

The perp stole a phone and was able to successfully flee, officers told Scene, because the officers were 'focused on checking fares rather than patrolling the whole station.' 'Interacting with passengers' is how transit police brass now refer to writing citations for fare evasion. One day this spring, while three RTA transit police officers were interacting with passengers in the main station (off Lorain), a robbery occurred on the opposite side.

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