He spit on the sidewalk and wound up in handcuffs.

It was a trivial infraction, but the young man who committed it is now banned from the Federal Way Transit Center for previous bad behavior. He also had three outstanding misdemeanor warrants.

Police officer Matt Leitgeb arrested the spitter, then escorted him off the property, where he was handed off to Des Moines Police in connection with one of those warrants.

Leitgeb, who patrols aboard a bicycle, is part of an enhanced security network of Federal Way and Sound Transit police determined to make the center safer for the 7,000 riders who pass through each day.

The two agencies have worked together for some time to increase surveillance and patrols, said Federal Way acting Police Chief Andy Hwang.

The shooting death of 19-year-old De’Von Winston-Parks on Sept. 17 added urgency to the task. It was the second killing at the center in less than two years.

Federal Way police dedicated a seven-person team of six officers and a lieutenant to patrol the transit center, the downtown area and neighboring parks, Hwang said.

Beginning this week, Sound Transit will use contracted King County sheriff’s deputies to police the center 50 hours a week.

Three new security cameras went live at the center in mid-October, Hwang said. They’re watched by a cadre of citizen volunteers, who alert officers to problems.

The combination of security measures will put police in some form at the transit center from the busiest times of the morning commuter rush until midnight.

More security at the $39 million center that opened in 2006 is a good idea, many commuters said last week.

“I’ve seen multiple fights,” said 27-year-old Faith Fulton of Auburn, as she waited in the gathering darkness for her husband to pick her up one evening. “There’s two times I can think of when the police were called. I don’t generally feel safe here.”

The center, located at 23rd Avenue South and South 317th Street across busy 320th Street from a major shopping mall, posted the largest number of crimes, arrests and other incidents among all of Sound Transit’s facilities in the first nine months of this year, the agency’s statistics show.

That included one homicide, two employee assaults, two passenger assaults, one burglary and five larceny incidents. Only Kent posted more serious crimes in that period – 14 compared to Federal Way’s 11 – but most were larcenies and car thefts.

Sound Transit officials say they don’t want to diminish safety or crime concerns at the center, but they do note that statistics are up at the Federal Way facility because it’s one of the agency’s busiest.

Two private security guards have been constantly on site, and Federal Way police have worked hard to patrol the center too, Sound Transit spokesman Bruce Gray said.

More security means more criminals caught, more arrests made, more statistics logged, he added.

The public, however, is most likely to recall the most serious incidents, which included the shooting death of Winston-Parks on Sept. 17 in front of dozens of witnesses; the January 2008 killing of 38-year-old Darrel Miller, who was shot while crossing a bus lane; the September 2008 serious but nonfatal stabbing of a 30-year-old Seattle resident; and the April 2009 beating of a Kent man.

Merlin Norman Bell, 28, is being held in lieu of $1 million bail in the shooting of Winston-Parks. He pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and unlawful possession of a firearm.

Hwang said Federal Way police have worked hard to control crime around the transit center, at the city’s parks and in the downtown area.

The Sept. 17 shooting “really overshadowed” some of that good work, he said.

The new joint crimefighting plan calls for Sound Transit police on site Monday through Friday from 2 p.m. until midnight. Federal Way police on bicycles and dual-sport motorcycles will be highly visible around the center on weekends and will make frequent random patrols through the area on weekdays, according to Hwang’s recent presentation to the City Council.

King County Metro police also will provide some coverage.

The Federal Way team of six officers and a lieutenant, patrolling on bicycles and dual-sport motorcycles, is part of a restructuring of the city’s policing program, acting deputy chief Steve Neal said.

With Sound Transit providing about $170,000 worth of policing over the one-year pilot program, the bus center will get more coverage and Federal Way police will be better able to watch over commuters as well as cover neighboring parks and businesses, Hwang said.

That’s good news to Federal Way Chamber CEO Tom Pierson, who says many parties worked together through the Safe City program on this and other initiatives.

It’s important, he said, “that everyone has come together to address needs and concerns.”

Kris Sherman: 253-597-8659

kris.sherman@thenewstribune.com