BART officers prepare to enforce new 'prohibition' law

Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) police officers recently completed training on applying a new state law that allows the agency to issue a "prohibition order" against people who commit certain offenses on BART property.

The prohibition order would ban an offender from entering BART property for a period of 30 days or up to a year, BART officials said in a press release.

Under the law, police officers may issue the order against people who commit serious crimes such as violence against riders or employees, or for offenders who repeatedly commit infractions such as urinating in public or defacing property, they said.

The officers' training included "ways to work with special-needs populations such as individuals with mental illness or homeless persons," said BART Police Chief Kenton Rainey.

BART will begin to enforce the program on May 6.