Bay Area Leaders Want Newsom to Make BART Safer. But No One Agrees on How

Bay Area business and elected leaders publicly urged Gov. Gavin Newsom to intervene and improve BART’s safety last week, sparking a clash with transit officials. The dispute sheds light on the disagreement over how to manage safety in the Bay Area’s transit system or whether it’s a problem at all.

Recent frightening attacks on BART trains, including one involving a man slashing a woman’s throat, prompted the Bay Area Council to send a letter to Newsom’s office, requesting he deploy a surge of California Highway Patrol officers on trains and in stations, similar to recent operations in Oakland to address crime.

“Urgent action and additional resources are needed to ensure that no more lives are lost or injured and that travelers in the AAPI community and other vulnerable populations feel safe on transit,” the letter states, calling it a “life-saving request.”

Multiple Bay Area elected officials signed the letter, including Assemblymembers Mike Fong and Matt Haney and state Sen. Dave Min.

However, the resulting back-and-forth between the council, BART, and Newsom’s office suggests that no one agrees on where to deploy the officers or whether to deploy them at all.

A coalition of over 100 Asian American Pacific Islander groups and individual leaders signed the letter. A quarter of all BART riders are Asian American, according to the council. And while BART does track crime in its trains and stations, it doesn’t break the data down demographically, so it’s difficult to tell whether the group is disproportionately targeted.

In its response to the letter, a BART spokesperson wrote that the agency “would welcome the strategic deployment of the CHP in the areas around our stations. This will help keep problems out of BART.” The agency declined to comment specifically on whether they would welcome CHP officers on trains and in stations.

In its response, the BART spokesperson also noted that, according to the agency’s data, the overall crime rate is down 12% compared to this time last year, and violent crime is down 6%.

“Perhaps the most impactful thing that can be done to increase safety presence at BART is the Bay Area Council’s commitment to run a marketing campaign to recruit more police officers, Ambassadors, and Crisis Intervention Specialists,” the agency wrote. “While 2023 has been BART’s strongest year for hiring new officers since 2019, recruiting for officers remains challenging for the entire region … We look forward to seeing their marketing campaign to help with these efforts.”

The agency seemed to refer to an informal recruitment campaign the council previously worked on for law enforcement more generally, not for BART specifically, Bay Area Council spokesperson Rufus Jeffris said.

“It’s very disappointing to hear that BART’s only response is to deflect from its responsibility and obligation to keep riders safe and instead blame others,” Jeffris wrote in an email to KQED. “We helped secure more than $1.2 billion in federal and other funding for BART of which none that we’re aware was used to recruit or deploy more uniformed officers throughout the system.”

Meanwhile, Newsom’s office — now in the middle of the disagreement — has been noncommittal.

In response to KQED’s request for comment, a spokesperson for Newsom deferred to BART.

“The state is not responsible for managing or governing BART’s operations or budget — it’s run independently by an elected board of directors,” the spokesperson wrote. “However, the state has committed nearly $550 million to support BART this year and over $400 million to fight hate crimes since the Governor took office.”

Newsom’s office gave the Bay Area Council a similar response.

“We met with Newsom’s folks, but they indicated there is little they can do within the CHP’s jurisdiction to assist BART,” Jeffris said in an email. “We are continuing to engage with them on the issue to see what other strategies or workarounds might exist.”

The council said it continues to engage directly with BART on the issue, particularly around how the agency currently deploys its own officers.

Finding common ground on passenger safety is critical for the success of the transit agency and for the Bay Area more broadly, council CEO Jim Wunderman said.

“It’s an incredible region built around this incredible bay,” he said. “But for it to work, there needs to be safe and convenient and reliable ways people can cross the bay.”

KQED’s Dan Brekke contributed to this story.