The Next Stop: METRO's Podcast
Episode 47: METRO Police Celebrate 40 Years of Public Service



Tom Lambert:  That’s the record of this agency. Hurricane Harvey, Tropical Storm Alicia, you name it, Winter Storm Uri. You know, this agency continued to perform in serving this community. That is what public service is all about. 

Doug Delony:  I’m Doug Delony. On this edition of the Next Stop, the METRO Police Department celebrates 40 years of serving our community.  

[Introduction music plays]

Doug Delony:  I’d like to welcome both Mr. Tom Lambert, who is the President and CEO of METRO, along with METRO Police Chief Vera Bumpers. I recently interviewed them for a wonderful look-back video that you can watch on METRO’s YouTube channel. Now many people may not realize this, but Mr. Lambert, you were a security investigator in 1979 during METRO’s first full year of operation, and METRO PD was created in 1982, and that’s when you became the first Chief of Police.  

Tom Lambert:  I had a great opportunity working. There were about four of us that started with the program, and we had the opportunity really to create the first transit police program in the State of Texas. Not many people get the opportunity to really work with a group of talented people to say, “We want to do something new.” So, it was very exciting from that standpoint. I am very proud of where we’re at today.  

Doug Delony:  And one of the reasons METRO has a police department is because of the large area that METRO covers.  

Tom Lambert:  You can start on a bus route in Houston, and you can start from the City of Houston, and you’re going to pass through the multi-cities that also are part of the METRO service area. You’ll pass through them. You go back into the City, and you’ll go into Harris County. So, it is a regional agency. It’s not an agency that’s limited only to the City of Houston. We have a 1,300-square-mile service area. We have facilities throughout the entire service area, and it’s an area that you had to have the ability to cross from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Wherever that bus went, you could follow it. Transit policing is specialized policing. It’s really focusing on those things of an order maintenance standpoint to make people feel comfortable in using our services. And so, it’s things that don’t always come as a part one crime in uniform crime reporting. So, it’s making sure that you’re doing things that make people feel very comfortable, feel safe in using the service.  

Doug Delony:  And I’m sure there are plenty of challenges that come with transit policing over a busy region like ours.  

Tom Lambert:  Transit policing is really the perfect example of community policing. And so, you come in from the standpoint, “Yeah, the police have a tremendously important role, but it’s also the transit community.” It’s the bus operators. It’s facility maintenance staff. It’s our other customers. It’s the general public. All have a role in making sure the environment we operate in is a safe and secure environment.  

Doug Delony:  Okay, let’s go back and talk about your history just a bit. As I said earlier, you were the first Police Chief for MPD. You were Chief now for how many years?  

Tom Lambert:  About 28 years.  

Doug Delony:  And now, you are…

Tom Lambert:  The Chief Executive Officer at METRO. Had I dreamed this back in 1982? Doug, I told you that would never happen.  

Doug Delony:  When you think back, what makes you proud?  

Tom Lambert:  I would tell you the most I’m proud is during a pandemic for two years. You know, we are a very, very good organization. And the thing that makes us, or, I should say, “We’re a very good, great organization.” And the thing that makes us great is the people within this organization are passionate about public service. We haven’t skipped a beat. We’ve continued to provide essential services to this community. I am extremely proud of that. But that’s the record of this agency. Hurricane Harvey, Tropical Storm Alicia, you name it, Winter Storm Uri. You know, this agency continued to perform in serving this community. That is what public service is all about. And that’s what I’m very proud of.  

Doug Delony:  And as you said earlier, everyone plays an important role. Every METRO employee, METRO police officer, METRO passenger, and of course, the leadership.  

Tom Lambert:  This is a very professional, well-trained, well-led, and I want to thank Chief Bumpers for her leadership, well-led police department that understands the importance of really focused-based policing and how you engage the community and working with you to support that.  

Doug Delony:  What makes Chief Bumpers a good leader?  

Tom Lambert:  Communicator, collaborator, cooperative, not afraid to make decisions, really challenging to set the tone and be a role model for what you’re looking for people to emulate, and she’s done that. She’s a national leader. She’s not just a leader here. She’s a national leader and very well-respected, and she walks the talk. And that’s what we look for in leaders.  

Doug Delony:  Thank you, Mr. Lambert. And now, part of my previously recorded conversation with Chief Vera Bumpers. Chief Bumpers, you were not the first Chief of MPD, but you have been on board since day one.  

Vera Bumpers:  I have been with METRO PD for 40 years.  

Doug Delony:  How many officers were on the force in those early days?  

Vera Bumpers:  When we were sworn in, I had an old picture of our swear-in, and there may have been 15, 20 officers sworn-in in the beginning. Even after we became a police department, they still utilized off-duty police officers to help us with covering the areas and support.  

Doug Delony:  And that number has clearly changed over the years as well.  

Vera Bumpers:  We’ve grown. Now, we’re authorized 276 police officers, and we are expanded in some of the things that we do.  

Doug Delony:  I spoke with Mr. Lambert about how METRO covers such a large area, and that means METRO PD does as well. How do you keep up with it all?  

Vera Bumpers:  We’re small enough for me to know everybody. [laughs] And we’re large enough for us to still have a great impact. I don’t get overwhelmed because I believe that we have great leaders here, supervisors, and we have great officers. We are careful to ensure that we have quality. Quantity is great, but quality is even better.  

Doug Delony:  And everyone, whether they ride METRO or not, has seen a METRO PD officer or MPD vehicle before. They’ve probably made the mistake of thinking, “Oh, that’s just a security guard for the bus.” But it is so much more than that, correct?  

Vera Bumpers:  We pride ourselves in making sure that our officers are qualified, trained, and definitely keeping relevant on what is going on in our City and communities, and even in the United States, when it comes to law enforcement. We have our own K-9 units, our own accident investigators. We have, of course, fare inspectors. They are not certified police officers, but they’re our civilian staff. And, of course, our investigative division. We also have officers who are assigned to the HOV lane, a motorcycle division. We have a rail and HOV motorcycle division, and we have officers who are assigned off-site to the Auto Theft Taskforce with HPD, HPD Homeless Outreach team, the Fusion Center, and of course, we have an officer that is assigned to the FBI Joint Terrorism Taskforce.  

Doug Delony:  1,300 square miles is a big area to cover, and I know the public is a big help in making public transit safe.  

Vera Bumpers:  Our investigators do an outstanding job of following through and definitely getting tips. A lot of times, it’s citizens or our employees who are our eyes and ears that may see the suspect again, and of course, technology has been very helpful for us. Having the cameras on platforms, on trains, and on buses really helps us to solve a lot of our incidents.  

Doug Delony:  And just as a reminder to everyone listening, if you see something, say something. There are multiple ways to get a hold of METRO PD. The non-emergency number is 713-224-C-O-P-S or cops. There’s also a form on ridemetro.org, where you can report an incident, and there’s also the MPD Connect App as well that you can put on your smartphone. In an emergency, though, always dial 9-1-1. Now, Chief Bumpers, before we let you go, when you think about your early days as an officer out patrolling, what memory sticks out to you?  

Vera Bumpers:  I think there have been a few times where we have reunited lost children. One I remember when I was an officer and a young boy who was riding the bus by himself, and he may have been 7, 8 years old, and I believe he got confused. He was going to grandmother’s house, I believe, and so it took me probably the entire shift that night to finally reunite him with his mother. And what I learned from that is that when I would ask names, he knew nicknames of family members, and I utilized that information now to let people know, “Make sure your children know your real name.” He may have known “Mom and Dad,” but he heard other people call them by nickname. So, he didn’t really know a full name, and he wasn’t sure about where he lived. Didn’t have any information on him. So, I remember I drove from place to place. He said, “I think it’s here. I think it’s….” And it was based on where he caught the bus, and finally, when I reunited him with his mom, I did share some tips about in the future. Make sure that he has some ID on him. Make sure he has some information in his backpack about where’s he going and definitely knows names and not nicknames. METRO Police is here to protect and serve. We are committed to that. We are here first for our patrons, our employees, to protect METRO property, but that does not mean we turn a blind eye if we see something around our system, a crime being committed, or someone needs help. We are peace officers, and we are certified. So, that means that if there’s a need, we will be there.  

Doug Delony:  Thank you again to both Chief Bumpers and Mr. Lambert for your time, and real quick, I want to play the audio from a video segment that you can watch on METRO’s YouTube channel. This story just goes to show while the METRO Police Force deals with serious crimes, they also believe that no case is too small. In this story, you’ll hear first from METRO passenger Daniel Lee, followed by MPD Officer Dell Valderas and MPD investigator Robert Smith.  

Daniel Lee:  I got my wallet back! [laughs] Thank you, METRO PD! Thank you, METRO! I commute in the mornings and in the afternoons. Somewhere along my morning commute, I lost my wallet.  

Dell Valderas:  Two ladies ran across the street, and they ran straight to us and told us they found this wallet on the sidewalk within the block of the rail. It was just pure luck that the wrong person didn’t find it. Didn’t really want to put in the lost and found, though. I thought it would be in the best interest to try to locate him.  

Robert Smith:  In investigations, we handle absolutely everything. We actually have a system here in investigations where I can look up and look further into somebody’s background. We came up with a possible phone number.  

Daniel Lee:  I really was so thankful that they went the extra mile. They said that they tried to go to what they thought was my address, and you know, they put a lot of effort in trying to get it back to me. They called me, and we set it up, and 15 minutes later, I had my wallet. I didn’t have to replace my cards. All the cash was there. I have little knickknacks that you can’t even replace. So, you know, everything was accounted for. 

Robert Smith:  This is just one of the little things that we would do for the public. We try to treat everything as like, “What if it was one of our family members?”  

Dell Valderas:  Absolutely.  

Robert Smith:  Or that could’ve been my wallet or her wallet or somebody else’s wallet. We want to be able to get it back to the person.  

Dell Valderas:  We go above and beyond to assist anybody that we can.  

Daniel Lee:  Thank you all so much for all the great work you do.  

Doug Delony:  And that wraps it up for this edition of the Next Stop. Thank you to you, the listener, and all of our METRO riders out there. I am Doug Delony. If you’d like to check out more episodes and subscribe, you can find all the links you need on ridemetro.org. As always, drive less and do more with Houston METRO!  

[Music plays to end] 




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