SWAT officers to start riding CTA trains amid spike in crime

(Gregory Potter/Interim Archives/Getty Images)

Chicago police SWAT team officers will start patrolling CTA trains to get a handle on rising mass transit violence, interim Police Supt. Charlie Beck announced Friday.

Beck and Mayor Lori Lightfoot are expected to unveil a more extensive CTA security plan next week.

The announcement comes after a recent wave of crime at CTA stations.

On Thursday, a 23-year-old man was charged with first-degree murder and aggravated battery with a firearm in connection with a triple shooting on the CTA Monday that left a man dead and two others wounded. Two babies — 6-month-old twins — were in the vicinity of the shooting.

On Feb. 4, a musician performing in the Red Line station at Jackson was wounded in a stabbing after a woman attacked him. She said his guitar was giving her a headache, Cook County prosecutors said after her arrest.

The day after the musician was attacked, a man was shot in a robbery on the Blue Line at the CTA’s UIC-Halsted stop. A 31-year old man was arrested for allegedly shooting the victim as they struggled over his backpack. Police are still seeking a second suspect in that shooting.

This year, there have been at least 45 robberies on CTA trains, stations and platforms, according to the city’s crime data portal. Last year, there were 591 robberies on CTA property — the most in five years — the data shows.