Fed up with crime aboard BART trains and at stations, the Bay Area Council is turning to the governor for help.
Bay Area Council COO John Grubb said while the California Highway Patrol is not an option, they’re hoping to work with Gov. Gavin Newsom on other safety strategies, including tapping into other police agencies.
"Coordinate with other law enforcement, the various counties BART operates in – Contra Costa, Alameda County, San Francisco, San Mateo – or either city police or sheriff's department," Grubb said.
BART said it has hired 39 officers this year and said overall crime is down 12% from last year.
"Public safety is the number one consideration that goes through a person's mind when they make a decision to use public transportation," BART Board Director Debora Allen said.
Allen agrees much more needs to be done. She thinks adding police from other agencies to help patrol BART’s 50 stations would make a big difference.
"So we could at least get to a place where we have one officer per station in the system on duty at all times," she said.
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