Monday, March 20, 2023 4:04PM
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — Starting Monday, more police officers are being deployed on BART to address safety concerns among riders.
An additional eight to 18 officers per shift will join the 10 officers currently patrolling the system.
The increase in police presence comes after BART board director Janice Li talked about what she calls a lack of investment in the system.
RELATED: BART inspector general resigns; calls out agency’s leaders for fraud, conflict of interest
She spoke at a packed event in San Francisco last week, saying BART is trying to do more with less.
Riders say they are now dealing with delays and cancellations on regular a regular basis.
Safety is another major concern. Riders tell us they’ve seen Crisis Intervention Teams on trains.
But Li says the issues plaguing San Francisco are bleeding onto BART.
VIDEO: Here’s why BART board president blames San Francisco for safety issues on trains
“Our effectiveness of these programs is really really limited by honestly the city and county of San Francisco’s inability to have real solutions and real exits from homelessness and to really deal with the addiction crisis that we have here,” Li said.
Riders tell ABC7 News unhoused individuals are often taking up a full row of seats during commute hours, and sometimes doing drugs while on board.
BART Police Chief Ed Alvarez said in a statement:
“This is the biggest train deployment we’ve had in the 25 years I’ve been here, if not the history of the BART Police Department. We’re going to be doubling down on our presence in the system.”
BART officials are also holding a meeting at 10 a.m. Monday, outlining the new safety plan being kicked off and introducing some of the new officers.
If you’re on the ABC7 News app, click here to watch live
Copyright © 2023 KGO-TV. All Rights Reserved.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
