About the BART POA

The BART Police Officers' Association (BPOA) emphatically supports the belief that we should work together to attain what is rightfully ours while remembering we are law enforcement officers dedicated to serving all segments of the San Francisco Bay Area Community(s) with the pride and caring of professional police officers and police support personnel.

The BPOA represents its members with the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District in order to enhance wages, benefits and working conditions of the membership. We support the Bay Area Community through our charitable giving and the promotion of programs that enhance public safety.

Currently, the BPOA is made up of approximately 230 Members consisting of Sworn Police Officers, Community Service Officers, Revenue Protection Guards, Dispatchers, and Police Administrative Specialists.

The BPOA has been serving its members, the BART District, and the Bay Area Community since 1976.

About the BART PD (below info from http://bart.gov/about/police/index.aspx)

The BART Police Department is comprised of 296 personnel, of which 206 are sworn peace officers anywhere in California. Its chief of police commands the department that is BART's sole law-enforcement entity and provides the full range of police services. To prepare for major emergencies, critical incidents, and tactical responses, the department is a signatory to the Bay Area's mutual-aid pacts and has teams of highly trained officers for tactical response and/or crisis negotiations.

Community-service officers, communications/9-1-1 dispatchers, revenue protection-guards, and clerical staff and supervisors comprise the department's civilian employees. Qualifications and training for BART police officers exceed the guidelines of the state's Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training, which certifies all California peace officers. In addition to meeting POST requirements, every BART police officer applicant must have completed at least a year of college. Most officers are assigned to the Patrol Bureau and become eligible for specialized assignments, including: field training officer; canine handler; SWAT operator; detective; bicycle patrol; personnel and training officer; applicant background investigator; crime analyst; administrative traffic officer; FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force investigator; and undercover anti-vandalism and special-enforcement teams.

The Patrol Bureau is decentralized into four geographical police zones, each with its own headquarters and field offices. Zone lieutenants are assigned the personnel, equipment, and resources to manage their respective police operations. This community-based deployment strategy enhances the BART police's ability to work more closely with the local residents, allied public-safety agencies, businesses, schools, and other transit district employees. There are BART police facilities and field offices in Oakland, Concord, Walnut Creek, Pittsburg, El Cerrito, Dublin/Pleasanton, Castro Valley, San Leandro, Hayward, San Francisco, Colma, and San Bruno where lieutenants, sergeants, officers, and community-service officers report for duty. The four Zones are:

• Zone 1: Includes the following BART stations: Rockridge, MacArthur, 19th Street, 12th Street, Lake Merritt, West Oakland, Fruitvale, Coliseum
• Zone 2: Includes Richmond, El Cerrito del Norte, El Cerrito Plaza, North Berkeley, Berkeley, Ashby, Pittsburg/Bay Point, North Concord/Martinez, Concord, Pleasant Hill, Walnut Creek, Lafayette and Orinda stations.
• Zone 3: Includes San Leandro, Bay Fair, Hayward, South Hayward, Union City, Fremont, Castro Valley and Dublin/Pleasanton stations.
• Zone 4: Includes Embarcadero, Montgomery, Powell Street, Civic Center, 16th Street, 24th Street, Glen Park, Balboa Park, Daly City, Colma, South San Francisco, San Bruno, SFO and Millbrae stations

To further ensure the personal safety of BART riders, pay phones and emergency call-boxes in parking lots connect directly to the BART police 9-1-1 communications center. The District also utilizes video-surveillance systems in trains, stations, and parking lots. Since 9/11, the emphasis has been to further harden BART's critical infrastructure against the threat of terrorism. The department hosts drills for the region's first-responders and participates in local, state, and federal counterterrorism working groups. An officer is assigned fulltime to the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force and a command officer is designated as the department's mutual-aid, counter-terrorism, and homeland-security liaison. All of BART PD's canines are highly trained and certified to detect explosives.