Have been reading the safety section of Metro Section recently and two incidents have caught my eye. One is of a repeat offender from a halfway house who had absconded--and then fired shots down the escalator at Columbia Heights. This guy had violated the terms of his halfway house conditions for over a month and no-one had noted it in the 'system' (federal clerical error

). His family address was in Columbia Heights and guess where he turned up? A little shoe leather could have found this guy, just based on his really unfortunate choice of face tattoos. We spend so much time concerned about legal gun ownership in DC and meanwhile we have this guy "OK corralling" into metro. There are so many schools and families in that area!
The other story is a repeat SEXUAL OFFENDER who OFFENDS ON METRO and Wmata say their hands are tied to ban him permanently from riding public transportation. Apparently, when someone offends on WMATA-by punching a driver or flashing or assaulting a passenger, the judge just bans them from the route it occurred on and they ride and reoffend on the other routes. This man is a serial Metro Sex offender who has even offended against the SAME WOMAN TWICE. Seriously?
I am happy to dig up the links if you are unfamiliar with either story. I understand that both DC and WMATA have complex jurisdictions with different types of federal, local and transport policing. I am thinking however that our DC elected officials and elected rep (Eleanor Norton) who should be our first go-tos use that as a complete excuse not to demand, advocate and work hard towards better cooperation and public safety. As soon as a story like these appear, there should be a public follow up from them about how they plan to plug the 'oversight hole'. And then they should get going.