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MBTA ambassador arrested at Government Center station - but not for anything he did on the job
By adamg on Wed, 07/18/2018 - 10:07pm
Around 2 p.m. yesterday, people inside the Government Center T stop saw an odd thing: two Transit Police officers walked in, put cuffs on one of the red-shirted T ambassadors and marched him out in the pouring rain to their police car.
"Everyone was stunned," one witness said.
A Transit Police spokesman confirmed the arrest:
Transit Police officers on patrol at the MBTA's Government Center station arrested Ambassador Wilens Magliore, 24, of Boston, by virtue of arrest warrants sought by Boston Police for Assault by Means of a Dangerous Weapon, Assault and Battery with a Dangerous Weapon (shod foot) and Assault to Intimidate. Magliore was transported to TPD HQ for the arrest booking process. The warrants were NOT related to his role as an Ambassador.
Innocent, etc.
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Comments
Background Check?
The T doesn't run a criminal background check before hiring people?
Yes, the T does. These people
Yes, the T does. These people do not work for the MBTA.
They're contractors, so the
They're contractors, so the company that hired him is supposed to.
Please be advised its a
Please be advised its a Transit ambassador...private company. Hired by the Baker crew of fix the T..
Don't understand
Ummm could there be a possibility that he did not have a record before getting that job or is it that anyone who thinks about breaking the law automatically has a record?
Aren't they
employees of the Downtown Boston BID?
Wouldn't show up if no prior offenses
You have to be convicted of something for it to appear on a criminal records check. That whole "innocent until" thing.
Is that true?
My understanding is that it is a list of court interactions. If you were charged with something and found innocent, then it still shows up. And it also includes things like temporary restraining orders that may have been vacated.
You are correct
You are correct. Wether or not you were convicted it will
Show up on ur record and so won’t a restraining order vacated or not
But not all thing in a background check will come to an employer
Trust me. I’ve seen people with charges pending or awaiting trial and employers didn’t find out until that employee got in trouble again
So not true
It will show up on your record as charged... convicted or not it’ll show up
Aren't they
employees of the Downtown Boston BID?
No.
The Downtown Crossing folks have their own "ambassadors", in orange shirts, who work on the streets above. The T "ambassadors", in red shirts, work for a private company that is in turn hired by the T.
That is false the same
That is false the same company who hired the orange ambassadors are the same company who hired the red shirt T ambassadors... I worked as a T ambassador same company
He wasn't hired by The T it's
He wasn't hired by The T it's a private company that hired him so go ask Governor Dick Head Baker!!
I feel sorry for tourists
I feel sorry for tourists dealing with these people. They clearly have no idea about anything- I overheard a tourist guy/gal asking whether a seven day pass would work all the way until the end of their seventh day and the red shirted guy halfheartedley agreed. This is false, a seven day pass is valid for 288 hours, if you buy it at noon it expires a week later at noon.
The Cheap Comes Out Expensive
They also tell people that they can buy monthly passes that work for 31 days from the date of purchase. It is not uncommon for bus and streetcar operators to have confused people board their vehicles with passes for next month loaded onto a CharlieCard thinking that they'll be valid today. But hey, hire cheap labor, give them limited training, provide zero incentive for good employees to do well, and get terrible results! It's all part of Charlie Baker and Stephanie Pollack's race to the bottom at the MBTA.
Judge Milian, People's Court
always says that. First in Spanish then English, "the cheap comes out expensive." Miss watching PC. Some of those cases were really enlightening. :-)
That would be a long week...
A week is 7 days x 24 hours = 168 hours, not 288.
And a 7-day pass is valid for 167 hours and 59 minutes from the time of purchase. So it isn't quite valid for a full week.
True for CharlieTicket pass
If the 1- or 7-day pass is on the CharlieTicket, it's active when purchased. If the pass is on the plastic CharlieCard, the clock starts when it's first used, not necessarily at time of purchase (so you can load a pass on the CharlieCard today and if the first use is tomorrow, that's when the clock starts).
Um, what?
MBTA ambassador? Related at all to a unicorn?
What? No diplomatic immunity?
(n/t)
Ah, yes..
lets privatize and all will be well. I have noticed more and more of these red shirted "ambassadors" at T stations where we used to have T employees. They are generally very young and have very little knowledge other than very basic. Keolis also has purple vested "ambassadors" who, at the various times I have asked, have no idea about anything that is going on with delayed trains and the like. I think their sole purpose is to tell folks how to find a track and get a train schedule.
Why can't you just go on mbta
Why can't you just go on mbta.com and look up the alerts/updates yourself?
Why can't the people who are
Why can't the people who are paid to do a job actually do their job?
Who says they weren't? They
Who says they weren't? They're just not doing it well. Can't expect everyone to have an outstanding knowledge on Boston's MBTA system. Especially when your employees are between the ages of 19-24 and only care about social media & music.
How about alittle knowledge, then,
Dwayne?
Oh, Dwayne..
let us see, perhaps one does not own a smart phone or carry a computer around? Yes? Or perhaps if you are hiring folks like the "ambassadors" they should know something about they are representing?
Come on EVERYONE has a
Come on EVERYONE has a smartphone. Look around any & everywhere you go. The only people who don't is elderly folks and they use The Ride not the subway or bus. Also it's obvious some people don't care about their job, in most cases they only care about the paycheck.
What?
LOL, no, not everyone has a smartphone. And it's not just "elderly folks."
Elderly folks ?
I'm elderly and I always use the subway, never use the Ride. I also have many elderly friends. Only one of them ever use or used the ride, and he's in a wheelchair. Next time you're on the subway, look around junior. There's plenty of elderly. Your ignorance is stunning.
People need to stop taking
People need to stop taking comments so serious & literally. Everybody has the right to comment and share their thought/opinions on this low budget site. At the end of the day most of us are not news experts, journalist, lawyers. As long as it's nothing highly offensive or inappropriate than there's no problem.
Smartphones don't always help
You clearly have not tried to use one to navigate. I rescue tourists on a daily basis when their google maps keeps sending them in random circles because GPS does not work well in the central city.
MBTA info isn't always easy to get if you don't already know what train or bus number you need. People also need help to understand whether they should buy their commuter rail tickets at State street or wait until they get to North Station, or even how to work the kiosks.
Finally, The Ride is for people with mobility challenges - my 85 year old MIL is not such a person, and she takes the T all the time.
Why should I use data
When there is someone at the station paid to be an “ambassador”?
Sad thing is back when these
Sad thing is back when these were unionized MBTA employees THEY STILL DIDN'T KNOW THE SYSTEM AND WEREN'T HELPFUL!
Jeff Bezzos needs to come up with an Alexa (or in this case "Charlie") for transit systems.
Two different companies
Two different companies
He’s Red
He’s red da ba dee da ba daa
Da ba dee da ba daa, da ba dee da ba daa, da ba dee da ba daa
Da ba dee da ba daa, da ba dee da ba daa, da ba dee da ba daa
He’s red da ba dee da ba daa
Da ba dee da ba daa, da ba dee da ba daa, da ba dee da ba daa
Da ba dee da ba daa, da ba dee da ba daa, da ba dee da ba daa
Um
Wut?
Europop Hit
It’s Eiffel 65 ‘yo. Circa 1998. Git down wit it jiggy style.
Over-inflated expectations for caliber of Ambassador talent?
It’s called a service industry job, people, not data science. Do you really expect them to have all of the answers, all of the time?
Am I the only one in my office that doesn’t have all the answers to every random question? Nope. Do you have all the answers to every question where u work? Doubtful.
Maybe they could have some
Maybe they could have some literature to pass out.
Saw a group of them
harrass and tease and homeless guy in South Station one evening. It's clearly a jobs program. Assuming it's privatized they're also also getting kick backs in the form of tax credits from the feds for hiring and retaining various 'at risk' demographics.
But their behavior pales by comparison to the extremely nasty, arrogant, racist Jamaican women who used to man a customer service booth in Forest Hills.
not surprising
Not surprising about the complaints about the service from these ambassadors.
I worked for the RIDE. Specifically the contractor who just lost their contract (GCS). No surprise if the same went on with these ambassadors, if its run the same as GCS.
Poor Poor hiring practices. They will hire anyone. Provide minimal training. And in some cases where staff was needed desperately? They would overlook background checks and drug tests if the person was qualified.
With the RIDE, you just could not take someone making 20/hr with 20 years of experiencing doing the job, then take their job away and give it to someone making 11/hr with little training and expect them to do the same job.
Not a big union lover here but I do see their point. Experienced employees should be compensated accordingly.
Only if the MBTA knew
I worked as a T ambassador and I went through the lousy training they gave us... there was a kid In my class awaiting trial... hmmm but they said they do background checks... also the crap I’ve seen these ambassadors do and not do if the MBTA only knew ...the contract would be voided in a heartbeat!!! The management for the T ambassadors are useless and can’t be found anywhere... they don’t respond to T ambassadors that are posted at stations.. they get paid 25.00 an hour to walk around with a backpack on and literally do nothing...I worked with this kid and he wasn’t very please.. but he didn’t seem vicious either ... but it’s true they hire kids and don’t train them at all... it is not a job for kids to be doing especially dealing with homeless, drug addicts, suicidel passengers, during my employment there I’ve seen two female ambassadors straight be rude to passengers and on a daily basis refuse to help them because they’re on their phones or in the booths and can’t be bothered.. I’ve seen the same two females talk disrespect with MBTA officials and were reported to management and they both still work there..like I said only if the MBTA knew half the crap!! That contract wouldn’t be renewed.. this is not the first time T ambassadors have been in the news and completely embarrassed the MBTA... people think the MBTA trains the Ambassadors well they don’t the company who’s contracted does and people need to stop blaming the MBTA for that..but also seems the MBTA loves the negative media attention that these hired contractors give them
some good, some bad
I've seen a number of good, helpful ambassadors, too. One I flagged down to point out that a T vending machine rejected credit cards for months; she said someone had told her and she was going to notify someone. I've seen a number of them helping people in downtown crossing which has a large number of people who have problems figuring out the system. I always wondered if the ambassadors at Chinatown, which continually has a gate open at night, stopped people from going through.
If they didn't have the ambassadors, people would wander around looking for help; it would be up to the other T patrons to help. I think they are better than having no ambassadors.
There are bad T employees too, along with the many good ones. There was an article the Globe buried yesterday about a T employee who stole $5,000 out of a backpack that had been left on the train. On the other hand there are good T employees who are quick to check out the status of passed out people on the trains when they reach Oak Grove.
Back in the old days
After tokens went away, it was often tough to find help from the actual T employees who had worked for years in the booth and were then tasked as customer service staff. And on occasion, God help you if you interrupted their reading! There were good and bad employees among those union-represented folks, and most of the time they had no clue if the trains were delayed, either.
To be honest, the ambassadors don't seem any less helpful than what they replaced and they're a heck of a lot more cheerful most of the time.
Agree 100%. Some of the
Agree 100%. Some of the ambassadors I see at Sullivan actually tell passengers things like "thank you" and "have a nice day" as they go through the gates. I also see them helping tourists on a daily basis at State. Neither of which could be said for the previous T employees, if they could be found at all. I even once had an ambassador open the gate for me when my CharlieCard was having issues.
Sullivan, for example, only occasionally ever used to have an employee on site during morning rush hour. Piggybacking was rampant. Now that most mornings there's an ambassador standing right in front of the gates (often 2 of them!), anecdotally fare evasion seems to have significantly declined.
I think I'd sum up the comparison between them as marginally better quality, but overwhelmingly greater presence.
So your both on board with
So your both on board with Baker's plan to privatize the T then?
No, but that doesn't mean I
No, but that doesn't mean I can't admit that the private contract employees are doing a marginally better job.
I can be opposed to something in principle while still admitting that in some circumstances it does work better.
Fare Evasion
Yes but their lack of training shows.
I was with a group of people and one of our cards didnt work. We were running toward the train so we piggy backed together.
The guy tried to say something but we were too far down the platform.
TBH, as much as I hate fair evasion... Ambassadors, and T employees with the exception of T Police should never approach someone for that. This is how you get attacked or stabbed. As much as I want this go away, I can't forget the loss prevention training I did when I worked in retail which is "never go after someone.. let'em have it because your life is more important than what they took"
I never said they should
I never said they should confront them.
I've also never seen an ambassador confront someone for fare evasion.
I said fare evasion seems to happen less frequently when you have someone standing there watching the gates than when there's not an employee in sight. It's all about deterrence. People are less likely to do something wrong if there's someone standing there watching them, even if that someone isn't going to (and shouldn't) confront them if they do anyway.
These T ambassadors don’t deter anything lol
I worked as a T ambassador months ago and I can tell you right now..the thugs, addicts and the homeless don’t care if an ambassador is at the fare gate or not they evade fare anyway.. they have not stopped any crimes and brought any numbers down for fare evasion. The the thugs, addicts and homeless no the system better than any single one of those ambassadors and they know that they can’t be stopped and the MBTA won’t do anything if anyone fare evades we were trained to just let them go the only way they get caught is if transit police is at the station during the time of evasion which is highly unlikely. I have reported fare evaders and when transit would come they would do crap but actually allow the person who fare evaded on the train they’re just as useless as the ambassadors.
Was thinking about ambassadors a bit more.
Are they necessary just because the T has awful signage? I'm thinking of Park St. in particular.
Also confusing signage
Whose bright idea it was to resurrect those unnecessarily "Scollay Square" signs in Government Center and have them in pivotal places where it should clearly indicate that it is Government Center but only indicates that it is the nonexistant "Scollay Square"? Such as the last inbound Blue Line car. This car stops at the station where only a "Scollay Square" sign is visible and NO Government Center sign. I have seen tourists (and others) not get off the car because they are not aware they are, in fact, atGovernment Center. It's an absolute cluster-you-know-what. I am a native Bostonian myself, very into the city's history, but nonetheless these misleading signs should not be there.
I can't believe the stupidity
I can't believe the stupidity of people.
The simple reality is the employee had a clean record and probably committed a crime during his employment. DUMMIES
Your the dummie
I worked with this Ambassador.. so I know your not correct.
He wasn’t pleasant or friendly. And you are incorrect btw dummy. I can’t wven tell you how many of the ambassadors had criminal history when they were hired
What stations did you work at
What stations did you work at?
T Ambassadors embarrassment
Embarrassing for the MBTA. This contractor T Ambassadors have made the news before with throwing a blind man’s cane.. and now T Ambassador gets arrest on the job... very embarrassing for the MBTA..work related or not... this isn’t the first time the T Ambassadors have embarrassed the MBTA with bad media publicity... keep renewing their contract... it’s just gonna get worse with T ambassadors... who cares if fare evasion went down or whatever their purpose is.. I would rather deal with fare evaders than contracted employees making an a fool out of the MBTA consistently...
You're all missing an important point here!
Were these cops parked on city hall plaza at the time of the arrest or did they do the right thing and park in a garage and walk over?
They park there when not responding
Why would they change just because they are doing their jobs.
Unless there was no place on the plaza to park.
EDIT- they were transit cops, so the city cops probably wouldn’t let them park there.
Apparently this really is a
Apparently this really is a thing for you...
It might a thing for me
But it appears to be a bigger thing for you.
A much bigger thing, dare I say.
You dare wrong. I placed a
You dare wrong. I placed a snarky comment and people take me seriously, because its a thing for them. I should have known you'd respond. After all, you did say you had an argument with someone over this very issue and are having (or had) a battle with someone over a screen name. WTF is that all about?
I'd tip my hat to your snark
But still, you remember the thing from weeks back. Reading this article, what you threw in as a comment was the furthest thing from my mind.
Odd what people drag up, but you stirred the pot, so I have to give you credit for that.
Well, when I saw the story of
Well, when I saw the story of cops making an arrest at government center, I imagined a cop parking on the plaza, much to the chagrin of some posters here. It's not that difficult to remember 2 weeks back.
I focused on the arrest part of the story
But if you want me to think about it, I see them stopping on Cambridge Street. Using the "parking spaces" by the entrance to City Hall would put them further away from the T entrance than staying off the plaza. Heck, if you want to raise the hackles of more people, the best thing they could have done would be to park in the bike lane. I mean, that would have been pure Uhub genius right there.
In my fantasy version of the story, they got off a Green Line train and took the escalator up to meet the guy, but even I know that is not practical in reality.
Are you kidding
A police officer should never go apprehended person with out a patrol car
You damn fool. Wether or not the station is down the street or a block away.. omg please go to police academy you might learn something
Please look up the definition
Please look up the definition of sarcasm, YOU may learn something.
She missed the inside joke
Though I would imagine that you and I were the only ones who got it (and you're the one that made it.) In short, lighten up, Clarence.