Last week, Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) launched a long-awaited campaign to raise awareness of and fight sexual harassment on public transportation systems. Richard Sarles, Chief Executive Officer and General Manager of Metro, said on the company website that the campaign aims to reach out to victims and encourage them to report incidents of sexual harassment more vigorously.
In order to meet its goals Metro officials unveiled a new reporting system available on the WMATA website. Victims of sexual harassment are encouraged to report abuse online. They are not required to reveal personal information and may stay anonymous throughout the entire reporting process. All reports submitted through this reporting system are sent directly to the Metro Transit Police. Images or videos of sexual harassment on Metro may also be submitted by anonymous users to harassment@wmata.com to help out the investigations.
In years past, WMATA has been faced with criticism for an allegedly hands-off approach to handling sexual harassment complaints. Photos of several repeat offenders accused of manhandling women and taking up-the-skirt photos were posted to the website of a local advocacy group called Collective Action for Safe Spaces. Cofounder of the group Char Shenoy said that this month’s campaign attests to the high volume of personal stories submitted to her organization’s own online reporting system. She considers WMATA’s partnership efforts a step in the right direction.
In addition, the WMATA website featured broader guidelines for what constituted sexual harassment, noting that illegal activity included, but was not limited to, groping, stalking and exposing oneself indecently. Sexual comments and excessive leering that makes a victim uncomfortable could also be reported. WMATA made a point to encourage victims of sexual harassment on Metro to report even non-criminal incidents, as this would allow the organization to better regulate behavior in the future. Dan Stessel, a spokesman for WMATA, said that the group plans to release statistics based on this data every quarter going forward.
New avenues and guidelines for reporting are just the first phase of WMATA’s push toward safer public transportation. In the coming months, Metro riders in the Washington, D.C. area should notice anti-sexual harassment posters displayed on the inside of subway stations and sides of buses. Paper materials outlining the dangers of sexual harassment will also be distributed by hand throughout the Metro system. For long-term improvement, Metro employees will soon undergo better training so that they can handle cases of sexual harassment when they occur.
If you are sexually harassed on a bus or subway, and you would like to bring the case to court, try talking to a sexual harassment lawyer in Riverside. A sexual harassment lawyer in Riverside is well aware that abuse of the public transportation system is widely under reported. Raising awareness through open communication is the key to fighting the issue of public sexual harassment at large, according to a sexual harassment lawyer in Riverside. Please do not let fear or indifference keep you from contributing to anti-sexual harassment campaigns all over the U.S. Call a sexual harassment lawyer in Riverside to report your case today. Details of how to handle the case from a legal standpoint will be discussed during a personal consultation with your sexual harassment lawyer in Riverside.