Defunding BART police is wrong move
SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA—The death of George Floyd while in police custody in Minnesota brought understandable nationwide focus on police tactics and procedures, particularly when dealing with minority communities.
In the Bay Area, BART police have been under similar scrutiny for more than a decade, following the killing of Oscar Grant by an on-duty BART officer.
As a result, most of the police reforms now being discussed nationwide have already been established at BART, which embraced nearly 60 recommendations made by an independent outside reform agency following Grant’s death. The results have been extremely positive – in 2019, for instance, the Office of Independent Police Auditor studied body-cam footage and found no sustained complaints on the use of force by BART police in over 115,000 civilian interactions.
More work needed
Yet more work needs to be done to ensure rider safety. For one thing, studies have found the BART police department to be severely understaffed. In 2018, prior to the opening of Santa Clara County’s two new stations, a transit police and safety expert reported to the BART Board that 94 more sworn patrol officers should be added to trains and stations to adequately address public safety. At the time, the agency committed to adding 19 new positions a year until that new quota was met.
Now, board directors from San Francisco have back-pedaled on that commitment by eliminating the funding for new police officers altogether. Worse, these directors support defunding the police to the tune of millions of dollars annually, threatening the successful reforms put in place since the death of Grant — and threatening the very safety of BART riders.
These urban directors recently voted to put the money they shifted from the police budget toward one of their favorite pet projects – “ambassadors.” These are civilians who ride trains in an effort to “keep the peace,” despite having no enforcement or ticket checking authority, and no law enforcement training. This experimental program should not be seen as a replacement for sworn officers committed to public safety.
Quality-of-life issues
Not helping matters is the fact the San Francisco directors still refuse to adequately address quality-of-life issues on trains that impact the daily commute and lead many people to avoid using BART altogether. They argued against a proposal to restrict panhandling on the trains and inside stations. Meanwhile, homelessness remains a persistent problem, even as overall ridership has plummeted 90% during the pandemic. Their answer is to put more homeless counselors on the trains and stations and pay homeless shelters to “reserve” temporary shelter beds for people who agree to leave the trains.
These same directors refuse to prioritize capital project funding for the replacement of antiquated fare gates that allow scofflaws and fare cheaters to easily jump into the system. BART police believe that eliminating fare evasion would go a long way toward reducing overall crime and significantly improving the quality of the daily transit experience. Additionally, BART could recapture at least a portion of the estimated $30-60 million annual revenue loss from fare evasion.
Now is not the time to turn back the clock and give up on the reforms already put in place by BART police. Defunding the BART police department will only lead to more lawlessness and trouble on the trains and in stations. This November, voters should demand that all BART directors commit to improving rider safety at all levels.
Contact Debora Allen at Debora@FixOurBART.com or visit www.DeboraAllen.com