Forthcoming Oscar Grant Shooting Report Will Lift Veil on Transit Police Work

It won't be a surprise to most that the report that was unveiled on the Oscar Grant shooting found a multitude of ways that the BART police were responsible, reacted poorly and need to improve. There were dozens of stories that came out and repeated some of these findings.  But very few stories gave this situation context by examining the role of transit police. By doing a round-up of the news Jennifer Ward was able to dive deeper into issues surrounding transit police.

A long awaited BART report examining the policies and actions behind the Oscar Grant killing has finally been released, shining light not only on decisions made during the controversial shooting, but also on the little-known work and environment of cops that police one of the largest municipal transit lines in the country.

The public report’s recommendations include:

• Providing additional training in enhanced tactics and team strategy to deal with hostile incidents
• Provide additional Taser training; require officers to wear Taser on opposite side of body from firearm.
• Review detention policies to ensure a more expedient turn-around of detainees and better conditions for physical detention.

More bullet points

Read the Report in Full

In the recent BART report, it was revealed that besides an antiquated police manual, BART police officers use substandard methods for reporting use of force incidents. More alarming, it was reported that although BART's police has had very few deadly force incidents in its history, “It is not known when the last unjustifiable use of force occurred with BART PD.”

In mid-February, BART turned over its internal affairs investigation to Oakland-based law firm Meyers Nave to delve into the actions of BART transit police officers present during the events leading up to the shooting death of Oscar Grant on Jan. 1 at the Fruitvale Station platform.

The Meyers Nave report is just the first of two reports looking at BART police actions. BART also hired another outside agency to conduct an independent review of BART’s police policies. That second report is expected in the next several weeks.

[For more background on the results of this report see our link section or video at the bottom]

All of this public transparency is breaking new ground.

By and large little comprehensive research exists on the operations of transit police departments. This despite the fact that both California and the nation continue to grow municipal rail systems. BART has its own ambitious expansion plans that include the under construction West Dublin/Pleasanton line and a new station for Warm Springs.

“There’s not a lot of studies or research out there.” said Criminal Justice Professor Samuel Walker. Walker is a researcher at the University of Nebraska and said that although most major American cities have some form of municipal or railroad service both government, and academic researchers have shown little interest in examining this sub-group of law enforcement.

“It’s like campus police, it’s an under examined group,” Walker said.

W.K. Brown, an author who worked for 21 years with the New York Transit Police said the public is also oblivious to transit police officers.

“Normally, when people think about cops or they watch a show on television about police work, they’re thinking about street cops,” said Brown, who wrote a book about his experience as a transit cop. “They don’t realize that there’s a separate entity that covers transit lines.”

Brown recounts an arrest early on in his career where the man Brown was arresting didn’t believe he was a cop.

“He said, ‘Get your hands off of me. You can’t arrest me, I’m calling the cops.’” Brown said. “I said, ‘I am the cops!’”

Rail and transit police said their work can be tough and lonely.

“One of the things you learn is that when you get in trouble by yourself, you need to learn how to get out of trouble by yourself,” said Paul Miller, a rail police officer working for a major railroad company in Louisiana. “The troops aren’t coming quickly to save you.”

Brown agrees. “99.9 percent of the time as a transit officer you’re working by yourself, so you have to learn how to be self reliant.”

BART is one of the most prominent municipal transit lines in the country. It’s unique not only for its workload, 360,000 average weekday riders, it also is one of a few metro transit systems that employ a stand alone police force. BART even has a S.W.A.T unit within its police agency.

According to BART, training for its 200 plus officers, “exceed the guidelines of the state's Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training, which certifies all California peace officers.” The annual budget for the BART Police Department is approximately $47 Million. The average salary for BART Police Officers (which includes Candidates, Senior & Master Police Officers) is $80,542 per year.

Municipal and railroad police said they’ve seen a variety of crimes occur on rail lines mostly thefts, burglaries and vandalisms. Robberies and serious violent crimes are rare.

Besides releasing two public reports, BART has adopted early reform measures and it’s all but certain the transit agency will adopt a controversial citizens review board currently moving through Sacramento legislature where it needs state approval.

In the end, BART transit police work will now be more public than ever before.

“The greater the degree of transparency of BART PD the better the agency will become,” the Meyers Nave report states.