BART Watch

If you like to answer endless inane questions from some bot taking reports, this is the app for you. “A man in a red shirt is smoking meth and twirling a machete on the train.” “Please better describe the shade of red. Please provide us with the color and manufacturer of his shoes. Please tell us the suspect’s mother’s maiden name. Please tell us if he’s wearing a belt and what material…” “He has now started a fire and appears to have chopped off someone’s arm. Please send help!” “Thank you for your report. In order to respond, we will need further suspect description. Is the baseball cap an adjustable size cap or a fitted cap? How many nose hairs are visible from each nostril…?” Unfortunately this is similar to the kind of the experience I’ve had with BART police. I once exited a car to immediately encounter two officers. I told them that I had just seen a man with a concealed handgun on the car 15 feet behind me, and that he was still there and I could show them. They proceeded to lecture me on how open carry was legal. It was not and is not. Further, the handgun was was concealed. In the meantime while they were lecturing me, the train doors closed and the train left with the armed man inside. Brilliant.

i've submitted numerous incident reports, ranging from nuisances to dangerous situations, and the results have been risible. as an example, one report involved someone cooking drugs over an open fire in a moving bart train. i was asked to specify the height, weight, race, attire, and possibly favorite music group of the individual. i guess it was important to make sure they got the CORRECT individual cooking drugs over an open fire on that particular train. in another instance i requested a wellness check for an individual i described as "semi-naked, barely conscious, occasionally mumbling deliriously, and drooling". i was asked for more specific information about the individual - presumably my description was not enough to differentiate him from the other dozen or so people in the same car? i think this app is just another way for bart to claim they care about safety or the customer experience without actually doing anything in response to the reports.

I didn’t think that using this app would be helpful, but it absolutely is! I was concerned over two individuals who were disturbing the pease, so I sent a message, not hoping for anything. But to my surprise an actual live human being was chatting with me in no time, and sent out officers to assist. Fantastic. It makes me feel so much safer riding Bart.