Bay Area Rapid Transit’s (BART) aggressive recruitment of new officers, as well as the presence of more police officers riding more trains, has increased safety for BART riders. The agency says felony arrests on BART increased 62 percent in 2023 compared with 2022.
BART officers recorded 726 felony arrests in 2023 compared with 448 for 2022. Additionally, 49 illegal firearms were seized in 2023 compared with 40 in 2022, marking the most guns the BART Police Department (PD) has recovered in a year since 2003. BART PD has already recovered a dozen firearms so far in 2024.
“These latest arrest and gun seizure numbers are a credit to all the hard work of our officers,” said BART Police Chief Kevin Franklin. “Since we started deploying more patrol officers to ride trains, we have seen an impact, and our riders are telling us they notice the difference.”
In the latest agency Quarterly Performance Review, the percentage of riders who reported seeing BART PD on their trip reached a record high of 20 percent, up from the previous record of 17 percent the previous quarter. BART says the past two quarters have been the first in its history where the percentage of riders who reported seeing BART PD exceed the department’s official goal of 12 percent.
The agency has been working to implement its Safe and Clean Plan, which focuses on boosting the visible safety presence in the system and increasing staffing to clean trains and stations.
BART PD has also been advancing an aggressive officer recruitment campaign to fill its remaining vacancies. The effort has been boosted by a 22 percent salary increase for officers, which was approved by the BART Board to ensure BART PD remains competitive with other law enforcement agencies in the Bay Area.
