BART board OKs parts of Crunican's security plan

Bay Area Rapid Transit's (BART) board has voted to move forward immediately on portions of General Manager Grace Crunican's proposed safety and security action plan.

Crunican introduced the plan following last month's fatal stabbing at the MacArthur Station in Oakland, California.

The board agreed to an expansion of BART's digital camera network in stations, parking lots and garages. The agency has more than 4,000 surveillance cameras, including both digital and analog models.

The plan calls for analog units to be converted to digital cameras, a project that would cost $15 million and take about four years to complete, BART officials said in a press release.

The board also agreed to the installation of three emergency call boxes on each platform. Each box will contain a direct intercom with BART Police Department dispatch and a camera that activates when the intercom button is pushed.

Meanwhile, the board voted to hold a meeting next month to further discuss other aspects of the safety and security plan, including implementation of a physical security information management system.

Expected to cost $4 million to implement, that system would have the capability to monitor thousands of simultaneous video streams and automate response recommendations to BART police. 

Also on the meeting agenda, the board is expected to consider accelerating plans to make it harder for riders to bypass fare gates without paying.

In the interim, BART will ramp up promotion of its BART Watch app, which enables riders to report criminal or suspicious activity on the BART system.