The Evanston Police Department will be increasing patrol officers at eight mass transit stations because of alerts from the state department, Evanston police Cmdr. Joseph Dugan said.

The state department sent alerts to EPD advising officers to use caution. There have been no specific or imminent threats and the department is not responding to anything in particular, Dugan said. However, because mass transit areas in other areas have been targets for violent activity in the past, EPD wants to have a presence at stations as a result of the alerts, he said.

Patrol will increase at the CTA stops at Howard, Main, Dempster, Davis, Foster and Central, Noyes and South Boulevard, he said.

“You turn on any news station and you see … talks about terrorist attacks on people and on law enforcement,” Dugan said. “There’s just a feeling going on … so we’re just trying to be out there and visible and step up our presence there for that reason.”

Recently, there was a robbery off of the Purple Line’s Main Street stop. A couple of women stole from another woman at the stop. The increased patrol could also help deter future robberies like this so they do not turn into a pattern, he said.

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