KRON 4 RE: BART PD
BART Struggles to Hire More Police Officers
Posted February 9, 2007 at 6:30 p.m.
OAKLAND (KRON) -- More passengers are using Bay Area Rapid Transit trains these days than in recent years but fewer police officers are working to keep them safe. That's one of the conclusions from the latest BART operating and crime reports released Friday.
"I won't ride BART by myself," passenger Ericka Deguzman Quintero told KRON 4 News. "I don't feel safe. I'm kind of scared."
During the last three months of last year, an average of 336,191 riders passed through the turnstiles at a BART station on an average weekday. That's nearly 14,000 more than during the same time the year before.
The system has enough money budgeted to have 206 sworn officers on the force but 20 of those positions are now unfilled.
"It's because of the small pool of applicants that is available," BART Police Chief Gary Gee told KRON 4's Will Tran. One big reason for that small pool is the money new BART officers make.
Fresh out of the BART Police Academy, an officer can make $50,000 a year. That's more than 25% less than the starting salary for a rookie Oakland officer at $69,000 per year.
"A lot of agencies are offering signing bonuses, interest free loans, cash incentives," Chief Gee said. BART officers are also required to have completed at least one year of college.
Will says the number of BART officers varies from station to station. Some have three or more. Others have none as the officers travel from one station to the next.
Chief Gee says despite the shortfall, his officers are doing a good job of controlling crime on the mass transit system.
The new statistics show BART is making improvements in preventing auto thefts and burglaries in station parking lots and getting to calls quicker. Still the numbers prove the agency has fallen short of its goals in many of these areas.
Above article (Copyright
Above article (Copyright 2007, KRON 4, All rights reserved.)
One shooting at Hayward
One shooting at Hayward Station. Another shooting at Coliseum Station. A carjacking at Fruitvale Station. I'd say BART is having a problem with violent crime.
the shooting was at the ac
the shooting was at the ac transit bus stop...stupid.
You are correct about the
You are correct about the bus stop thing. One of the guy's who was shot was standing near the bus stop pole/sign. But, you fail to mention that of the approximatly 4 bus stops, in that paticular bus lane (Hayward has 2 bus lanes)the victim was standing near the closest one to the bart lobby area (about 100 ft).
It was, as charichterized in news reports....
A SHOOTING AT BART!!
Not a shooting at a bus stop.
I was there, I know.
Normally, during that time there is always 1 or 2 police cruisers parked 200 feet from where the victim was shot.
That was the first day, in a long time, that there was no BART PD presence. I don't think that BART PD is at fault for the ills of society...
Shooting up BART stations and shit!!
Or, maybe I'm wrong
.............sorry not this time either!!!!
jbap21
And that's any different
And that's any different from anywhere in the bay area or the world for that matter?
BART isn't exempt or 100% safe from crime due to the fact that cops in any jursidiction are outnumbered by criminals about 50-1. Almost any police department in any major city is understaffed, and outnumbered. Obviously BARTPD isn't any different.
I agree. Things are fine
I agree. Things are fine just the way they are.
The biggest problem ANY
The biggest problem ANY police department has is that they have to recruit from the HUMAN RACE. Fewer and fewer people are willing to go up against well armed, hard core criminals who would just as soon shoot a police officer in the back of the head.
Once arrested, the courts will just turn them loose to commit the same crime again. Talk about your thankless jobs! I admire anyone who really wants to be a police officer. Too bad our elected officials are more willing to protect the criminals rights than supporting our police officers.
Yeah, I agree, BART
Yeah, I agree, BART shouldn't waste its time, money, and energy trying to prevent crime. Why bother? Let the low-lifes have the system.
I agree. BART Police should
I agree. BART Police should build an army of robots and declare martial law on all BART trains and in all BART station. Brilliant idea if I do say so myself. If only the government would start doing such things . . .
It's a GREAT idea! Shoot the
It's a GREAT idea! Shoot the fatties that eat and drink on trains, taze or mace the fare evaders, whoa! You are on to something here.
-M. Delgado
leave it to delgado to take
leave it to delgado to take sarcasm one step too far
Does anyone know where we
Does anyone know where we see these new statistics?
$50k a year for not doing
$50k a year for not doing anything, that's not bad.
They must being doing
They must being doing something if crime on BART is relatively low. I think cops should get paid better. It must be tough dealing with people who would rather kill you than go back to jail.
Who says crime is relatively
Who says crime is relatively low? The BART chief says they are doing a good job, but what do you expect him to say? Where can we see or how can we get a report of the crimes reported on BART property and the numbers of arrests, etc., made by BART police so we can see the facts and not just have to accept opinions?
I doubt the cheif would tout
I doubt the cheif would tout his force as "Inadequate, undertrained, culturally inept morons who are grossly unprofessional and trash eachother online."
Yeah, he dosn't offer a very realistic opinion of his "perfectly adequate" force.
-M. Delgado
Did you miss the word
Did you miss the word RELATIVELY? Keep things in perspective. Relative to large cities, BART crime IS low. Relative to the number of riders, vehicles parked on BART property, non-riders who wander in and around the stations and use the restroom facilities and the total number of BART stations, maybe the ratio islow.
So "relatively" is based on
So "relatively" is based on facts and is not just an opinion? Please share where anyone can see this data.
Right, relative to compton
Right, relative to compton and the south bronx, crime on bart is low. Yay! Three cheers for bart PD!
You can't get crime
You can't get crime statistics from any police department even though state law requires them to provide them to the public. If you request the info, they'll want your DOB, your address, they'll run a background check, all completely illegal. Or, they just won't respond. There was an investigation on this that was conducted by the news media across the state and what they found out was pretty shocking. Police departments will not give out any kind of crime stats or only after gathering illegal info from the requestor. Call BART and ask for crime stats at their stations and all you will get is the runaround, which is contrary to state law.
To obtain criminal
To obtain criminal statistics and crime information.
Crime Analyst: Officer Brando Cruz 510.464.7096, bcruz@bart.gov
So that works out to be
So that works out to be about 1 officer for every 1807 riders (336,191 / 186 since they're 20 short of their budgeted 206). If they hired those twenty extra it would be one officer for every 1631 riders.
I wish there were more around, but I don't blame them for taking the higher paying jobs. They are even ironically advertising the Oakland PD jobs in the BART stations. A nice reminder for the BART cops.
I've seen the advertising
I've seen the advertising you mentioned. It's also on AC Transit buses that stop at BART stations. Ironic is the right word.
San Jose had 250 officers on
San Jose had 250 officers on staff for an 11,000 person Fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras) celebration. That sounds about right.
On Halloween and New Years, Bart probably sees hundreds of thousands of patrons (Bart averages about 336,000 per work DAY). How do they staff these events??? With a few dozen officers and another 5 or 6 in black uniforms at Embarcadero.
Today's paper showed a SF deputy made $200,000 last year. For the money Bart pays its police, they're lucky anyone works there at all.
Hardly anyone on the BART
Hardly anyone on the BART police force does, that's the main problem.
The example you gave is for a SF General security guard who worked 1926 hours of overtime. Why use the abnormal implying that the pay is then typical?