There is no easy way for the public to know the extent of crime at a specific Metro station. That would require requesting records from local and Transit Police, a process that can take months.
The statistics published on the system's Web site reflect aggregate numbers -- not broken down by Metro station -- and include only those collected by Transit Police. After Hanson's interview with The Post, the agency added a line to its Web site that notes that its figures do not include crimes reported by local police departments.
The counting system "presents a false picture of what's really going on," said a 26-year-old accountant who was punched in the face on a platform at the Metro Center Station during evening rush hour in May 2004. The assault was not included in Metro's figures.
"The Metro appears safer than it actually is," said the man, who spoke on condition he not be identified because he had been threatened by the assailant, whom D.C. police charged with aggravated assault.
"I wish the police would disclose all of the incidents, regardless of who made the arrests," the accountant said. The information would benefit riders and help Metro, he said. "If they don't have the full statistics, they can't really enact programs to curb crime or measure how much progress they have made in programs to fight crime."
Hanson said that until now, "no one has ever asked" whether her agency's method of counting crimes was adequate. "I don't know what I don't know," she said. She said she was "very surprised" that incidents handled by other departments would raise the total number of serious crimes by more than 20 percent.
The Post requested statistics on crime at Metro stations from nine local and regional police agencies, including incidents on platforms, in stations, at parking facilities and in bus bays. None of the departments tracks crime at Metro stations separately, but the departments gathered the information by searching databases, for example, and matching addresses. The review did not include the Metrobus system because of the difficulty of tracking incidents at the region's 12,000 bus stops.
Local police reported a range of crimes at rail stations, including incidents involving handguns, box cutters and baseball bats. In one attempted robbery handled by Montgomery police at the Rockville Station, a man fought back by removing his belt and swinging it at his attackers.
Stolen cars and thefts from parked cars are a major concern for Metro, which has 50,000 parking spots at its stations, making it the biggest parking operator in the area.
In July, Hanson reported to the Metro board that the number of stolen cars had dropped 40 percent compared with last year, but she didn't include incidents handled by other jurisdictions.
In the 18 months ending in June, Metro recorded 349 car thefts or attempted thefts. But other police departments reported an additional 50 thefts or attempted thefts, an additional 14 percent.
"When [Transit Police] talked about crime coming down in the parking lots, I thought that was total crime, not just the crime that Metro handles," said Deegan, the board member. "We're bragging about what we're doing, and we're not showing the full picture."
The Transit Police do not count crimes on non-Metro property, even if the victims are Metro passengers using the parking lots -- some of which are not owned by Metro -- pedestrian walkways or other areas adjoining the stations. Hanson, who has described the stations as a safe haven in troubled neighborhoods, said her agency is unfairly tarnished by nearby "street crime."
Late last month, Montgomery police reported five muggings in and around Twinbrook Station. All of the victims were walking home from the Metro, most of them on a pedestrian walkway that leads from the station to a nearby intersection. In most cases, the robbers showed a handgun.
Hanson doesn't consider those muggings to be Metro crimes. "We're not experiencing that crime," she said.
But Kauffman, the board chairman , said Metro should include off-site crimes if they are "reasonably linked" to the station.
Several riders said they find the method of counting crimes confusing because it is irrelevant which police agency handles the crime or who owns the parking lot.
"People just want to be safe," said Nancy Nickell, a Silver Spring resident who relies on public transportation to get to her job as an aerobics instructor. "They don't want some line to be drawn. . . . I wouldn't be on the property if the Metro station weren't there."
Research database editor Derek Willis and staff researcher Bobbye Pratt contributed to this report.
