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The Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, Texas (METRO) has appointed Houston Police Captain Victor Rodriguez to head METRO’s police department.

Rodriguez has served the Houston Police Department since 1985. As METRO’s police chief, he will oversee protection of an agency that spans more than 1,200 square miles and includes 29 park-and-ride lots, 19 transit centers and, in the near future, three additional light-rail lines, which now are under construction.

“My goal and desire is to make METRO’s police department the premiere transit law enforcement agency in the country,” Rodriguez said in a prepared statement. “I want to make it more responsive to the community. I want people to feel as safe and secure on our buses and trains as they do riding in their own cars.”

Meanwhile, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s board recently added two new members — Michael Barnes and Alvin Nichols — and a new alternate, Anthony Giancola, who will represent the federal government.

A former congressman from Maryland’s Eighth Congressional District, Barnes is a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy. Nichols is the founder and principal of Nichols Creative Development, a real estate and community development advisory firm.

Giancola is the executive director of the National Association of County Engineers. A retired military veteran who served in the Civil Engineer Corps of the U.S. Navy, he has extensive experience in transportation, engineering, contracting and finance.