WALNUT CREEK — The doors on a BART train opened Wednesday afternoon and BART police officers Nick Luzano and Jon Chu shuffled in along with other passengers at the Walnut Creek station. The train began heading east, and the two began walking west, through sets of open doors, making eye contact with others as they went.
BART Police officers Jonathan Chu, left, and Nick Lazano, right, conduct train security checks on Thursday, March 28, 2024, in Contra Costa County, Calif. (Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group)
“I do see them on the trains now more,” passenger Gretchen Vasquez said. “That’s been noticeable.”
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Also noticeable is the surge in felony arrests on the transit system: BART police on Thursday said that number had increased by 62% in 2023 from its 2022 total.
According to police, officers made 726 felony arrests and seized 49 illegal guns over the last calendar year. In 2022, the numbers were 448 and 40. The number of gun seizures marked a 22.5% increase from 2022 and were the most guns BART police have seized since at least 2003, according to the agency.
BART Police officers Jonathan Chu, left, and Nick Lazano, right, conduct train security checks on Thursday, March 28, 2024, in Contra Costa County, Calif. (Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group)
Police said they also recovered 12 guns since the start of the new year.
“These latest arrest and gun seizure numbers are a credit to all the hard work of our officers,” BART Police Chief Kevin Franklin said in a statement. “Since we started deploying more patrol officers to ride trains, we have seen an impact. And our riders are telling us they notice the difference.”
The increase in police presence has come as part of BART’s Safe and Clean Plan that they implemented in September. The plan wanted more police visibility on trains, a reduction in response time and fewer serious incidents.
“I feel safer, I do, just to know that they’re on there and that they’re out and about,” said Jessica Platin, a Pleasant Hill woman who said she uses the system a couple of times a week. “People mostly leave you alone anyway, but it’s a deterrent.”
The agency also committed to filling all of its police vacancies and adding 19 additional positions once they did. Officers also received a 22% pay increase approved by BART’s Board of Directors.
BART Police officers Jonathan Chu, left, and Nick Lazano, right, conduct train security checks on Thursday, March 28, 2024, in Contra Costa County, Calif. (Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group)
Members of the BART Board of Directors could not be reached for comment Thursday.
BART’s quarterly performance review, released in February, showed that 20% of BART riders reported seeing an officer on the train during their trip, a mark the agency said is a record high. The previous mark of 17% had been set in the previous three months; both figures exceeded the department’s official goal of 12%, the agency said.
“I ride all the time, during the day and at night,” Walnut Creek resident Daniel Hewitt said. “I’d say it’s still really bad as far you still see people all the time on fentanyl or other drugs — just things you don’t want to see. I do see cops at every station now though, so they are visible.”
Luzano and Chu walked the length of the two trains as they moved between Walnut Creek and North Concord on Thursday. It’s a process the two repeat daily between Oakland and Walnut Creek, as well as other stations to which they may be assigned.
BART Police officers Jonathan Chu, center, and Nick Lazano, right, interact with a passenger as they conduct train security checks on Thursday, March 28, 2024, in Contra Costa County, Calif. (Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group)
During their brief time Thursday afternoon walking trough two cars Thursday, a dozen passengers looked up to acknowledge their presence.
“It’s definitely a big difference between day and night,” Hewitt said. “That’s probably when their presence makes the biggest difference.”