☆ BART director: Stop tragic train overdoses at the source by enforcing existing rules

 
 

2023 was inundated with headline after headline about the latest overdose death on the BART system; countless more riders regularly abuse illicit substances on the trains, creating unhygienic and dangerous situations for others. In this Opp Now exclusive, Debora Allen—BART director since 2016—analyzes the alarming overdose spike, and what it'll take to eliminate drug use on BART (hint: actually enforce laws for fare payment/code of conduct, and recruit officers like crazy).

Should we be concerned about the overdoses in BART? Absolutely. That’s someone's child, or brother or sister or loved one, who couldn’t find help for their addiction.

But I think we should just be generally more concerned about the illicit drug use inside BART, period. It shouldn’t matter whether someone dies there or not. The drug use has far-reaching impacts that go beyond those who lose their lives from overdose.

When I started as a BART Board Director, other directors used to defend drug users and say that it's a "victimless crime" and we should just leave them alone. I disagreed with them even back in 2017 and still do. Illicit drug use in a public space, particularly an enclosed train, is an assault on the right of others to use public transit. When a person is smoking or using a hypodermic needle for illegal drugs in a train, every rider’s health can be impacted by it. There are numerous incidents at BART of riders and workers being accidentally stuck by discarded needles. A fentanyl wrapper left on a seat can be a danger to someone who picks it up or disturbs it, particularly a child.

The only way to effectively reduce this activity is through enforcement of both our fare payment laws and our other code of conduct laws prohibiting smoking and illegal drug use in the system. Our new fare gate program, once complete in 2 years, should help reduce some of the crime and drug use. For the rest, enforcement of our code of conduct takes sworn police officers. We are still coming up very short in our sworn patrol officer numbers with 30 of 185 positions vacant, another 10+ in officer training, and another 15-20 on leaves of absence at any given time. We simply don’t have enough officers, and the only way to increase the force now is to spend more time and money on recruiting and then get tougher on enforcement. We didn’t get to this spot overnight; it took years of the BART Board coddling drug addicts, trying to decriminalize fare evasion and de-emphasize sworn officers, while building a policing program out of un-sworn ambassadors and crisis workers. Their model hasn’t worked, and it hasn’t helped anything improve with respect to the criminal activity in the system, including the illegal drug use. That’s part of why ridership has stalled out at 42%. People don’t want to subject themselves to that environment.

Fortunately, the public will have an opportunity in 2024 to choose Board Directors more wisely when 5 seats are on the ballot, and 4 directors not running for re-election. A new board is needed to make meaningful change at BART. If not, expect more of the same.

[Editor's note: Opportunity Now submitted a public records request on December 28, 2023 about the number of overdose deaths on the BART system during 2023. On September 18, 2024, they responded to our inquiry to confirm that 20 deaths on BART in 2023 (out of 40 total systemwide deaths that year) were connected with an overdose.]

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Special ReportsJax OliverComment