Dallas Area Rapid Transit is planning an aggressive push to bolster security over the next five years — including a 77-percent spending increase in security services next fiscal year.

Of the 65 full-time salaried positions DART plans to add in 2018-19, 61 are police. Many of the new positions are already filled because of an initiative to have a uniformed presence on every train.

However, DART is still 27 new hires short of having enough staffing for 100-percent coverage on trains. The agency has contracted part-time security officers and used overtime to fill much of the void. The security officers provide a presence, but not the authority of a full-time DART staffer.

And officials say that for the overtime DART is already paying, the agency could fill the positions, as well as provide training and benefits. Most of the immediate attention — 40 officers and two lead inspectors of the 61 new police — is going to fare enforcement.

But a workforce study, commissioned through the University of North Texas, directs the agency on how to build up security resources over the next five years.

During the presentation of the report to the board on Tuesday, DART officials admitted the agency doesn't have 100-percent coverage on trains because of breaks and a need to take offenders off trains.

DART officials said it would take more officers and about $1.8 million a year just to cover for the fare enforcement crew's unpaid lunch breaks.

Board member Dominique Torres said she thought 100-percent coverage meant "that there would be someone on every train."

Torres, who said someone tried to steal her cellphone on a Green Line train Monday, was generally supportive of a more ambitious security plan.

DART also must decide whether to cover trains solely with fare enforcement officers or spend more to include licensed police officers as part of the on-board security.

One of the UNT study recommendations would also add a rail-support division to DART police. The strategy would divide the train network into sectors of two to seven stations. The cost is projected to be $7.2 million, plus ongoing salaries for the 63 rail support officers and fleet maintenance costs for 32 vehicles.

The rail support would enable the train officer to stay on board after dealing with an offender and allow patrol officers to focus on the 700-plus square miles of the DART network that aren't along the rail lines.

"This would mean patrol wouldn't have to gravitate toward the rail," DART Police Chief James Spiller told the board. "They could stay out with the buses and at the bus stops."

The study recommends patrol officers work out of five districts outside downtown Dallas, utilizing 55 officers a day. At one officer per shift, that would require 30 new officers at a cost of $2.6 million. Adding two officers in each unit for backup on overnight shifts would cost $5.5 million for 62 additional officers. With either option, 15 vehicles would be needed at a budgeted cost of $787,500.

Another part of the study recommended full-time police presence continue in both downtown Dallas and at the Ledbetter Station. The number of officers and corporals on those duties would expand by at least six and up to 16, according to options in the five-year strategy, at a cost of $528,000 to $1.4 million.

None of those plans include supervisors. Over time, DART would add one lieutenant to fully staff the patrol districts, 14 patrol sergeants, eight lead fare-enforcement officers, two detectives, a criminal investigations specialist, an evidence custodian, four telecommunicators and six camera monitors.

"In criminal investigations, we're taking a look at caseloads. Our numbers exceed national standards," Spiller said. "They investigate property crimes as well as sexual assaults and all other assaults."

Some of those are listed among the new DART police positions in the 2018-19 budget set for board approval next Tuesday.

All told, implementation of the study would cost an additional $15 million over five years. The study did not address the cost of uniforms or weapons, or include the Trinity Railway Express, the commuter line between downtown Dallas and downtown Fort Worth, which DART co-owns.