atek3
Member
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/10/23/BARTSWAT.TMP
Passengers did plenty of double-takes Friday morning as BART police Sgts. Eugene Wong and Kevin Franklin, carrying assault rifles and gas masks and clad in SWAT uniforms, made their way through the Balboa Park station in San Francisco.
"D-a-a-a-amn!" exclaimed Stephan Lee, 40, as the sergeants strode past him on the platform. "This isn't even the airport!"
Bernedette Bell, 40, had a similar reaction. At first, she thought that something was wrong. But Franklin reassured her, "Just high-profile patrol right now."
The transit agency has had a special weapons and tactics team -- commonly known as SWAT -- for many years, and regular BART officers have been on heightened alert since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
But for the first time, BART tactical officers, following the lead of transit agencies in cities such as Los Angeles, New York and Washington, began patrolling the system this week to deter potential terrorists as election day draws near. BART is the only transit agency in Northern California that is deploying SWAT officers on a routine basis.
No specific threats have been reported to BART or any other transit agency, but authorities don't want to take any chances, said BART Police Chief Gary Gee.
"For months, there has been a national security concern that a terrorist attack will disrupt the upcoming elections," Gee said.
That's why Franklin, 34, and Wong, 42, spent several hours Friday getting on and off trains as they made their way from BART police headquarters at the Lake Merritt station in Oakland to San Francisco International Airport.
They were met by plenty of quizzical stares and some raised eyebrows as they inspected various stations, peeked out the doors of some trains and walked the length of others, looking for anything amiss.
Franklin used the muzzle of his rifle at one point to look under a pile of newspapers on a seat.
"Is that yours?" Wong asked a bearded man, who looked at a green bag on a train seat and nodded.
As a train hurtled toward San Francisco, Wong asked the same question of Antonio Nieves, 55, of Oakland. "It's my lunch," Nieves said sheepishly of a plastic bag sitting at his feet.
"I think these guys are doing a pretty good job," Nieves said.
At the Balboa Park station, Joel Mansfield, 22, of San Francisco doffed his hat at the sergeants. "It's good to see you out here," he told them.
Franklin and Wong made a point of greeting riders with disarming smiles while at the same time keeping their fingers at the ready on their M-4 and AR-15 rifles.
"How are you? How are you doing?" they said repeatedly. They waved to train operators as they pulled into stations.
Wong, a nine-year BART police veteran, turned serious when he saw a man, apparently late, trying to wedge open the doors to a train. "Don't hold open the door," Wong said sternly.
BART train operator Heidi Quinonez, 31, riding to the San Francisco airport, said the patrols are comforting. "I know they're looking for suspicious people or suspicious packages," she said. "It feels safe."
The sergeants told riders who chatted with them to notify police if they see anything suspicious.
The high-visibility patrols, which include explosive-detecting K-9 units and volunteers in fluorescent vests, might continue after election day, BART police said.
"We don't want terrorists to think, 'Cool, after the election we can do anything we want to do,' " said Franklin, a former Oakland police officer and eight-year veteran of the BART force.
The special patrols will also be done at different times of the day throughout the 43-station system, which runs through four counties.
"We decided to have officers do random sweeps," Wong said. "If terrorists want to scope us out, we didn't want them to see our routine."
BART's SWAT team, consisting of 18 officers, two medics and a commander, used to be called SPAR, for the Special Problems and Rescue team. But too many people were confused. "They thought it was a boxing team or something," Gee said.
Passengers did plenty of double-takes Friday morning as BART police Sgts. Eugene Wong and Kevin Franklin, carrying assault rifles and gas masks and clad in SWAT uniforms, made their way through the Balboa Park station in San Francisco.
"D-a-a-a-amn!" exclaimed Stephan Lee, 40, as the sergeants strode past him on the platform. "This isn't even the airport!"
Bernedette Bell, 40, had a similar reaction. At first, she thought that something was wrong. But Franklin reassured her, "Just high-profile patrol right now."
The transit agency has had a special weapons and tactics team -- commonly known as SWAT -- for many years, and regular BART officers have been on heightened alert since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
But for the first time, BART tactical officers, following the lead of transit agencies in cities such as Los Angeles, New York and Washington, began patrolling the system this week to deter potential terrorists as election day draws near. BART is the only transit agency in Northern California that is deploying SWAT officers on a routine basis.
No specific threats have been reported to BART or any other transit agency, but authorities don't want to take any chances, said BART Police Chief Gary Gee.
"For months, there has been a national security concern that a terrorist attack will disrupt the upcoming elections," Gee said.
That's why Franklin, 34, and Wong, 42, spent several hours Friday getting on and off trains as they made their way from BART police headquarters at the Lake Merritt station in Oakland to San Francisco International Airport.
They were met by plenty of quizzical stares and some raised eyebrows as they inspected various stations, peeked out the doors of some trains and walked the length of others, looking for anything amiss.
Franklin used the muzzle of his rifle at one point to look under a pile of newspapers on a seat.
"Is that yours?" Wong asked a bearded man, who looked at a green bag on a train seat and nodded.
As a train hurtled toward San Francisco, Wong asked the same question of Antonio Nieves, 55, of Oakland. "It's my lunch," Nieves said sheepishly of a plastic bag sitting at his feet.
"I think these guys are doing a pretty good job," Nieves said.
At the Balboa Park station, Joel Mansfield, 22, of San Francisco doffed his hat at the sergeants. "It's good to see you out here," he told them.
Franklin and Wong made a point of greeting riders with disarming smiles while at the same time keeping their fingers at the ready on their M-4 and AR-15 rifles.
"How are you? How are you doing?" they said repeatedly. They waved to train operators as they pulled into stations.
Wong, a nine-year BART police veteran, turned serious when he saw a man, apparently late, trying to wedge open the doors to a train. "Don't hold open the door," Wong said sternly.
BART train operator Heidi Quinonez, 31, riding to the San Francisco airport, said the patrols are comforting. "I know they're looking for suspicious people or suspicious packages," she said. "It feels safe."
The sergeants told riders who chatted with them to notify police if they see anything suspicious.
The high-visibility patrols, which include explosive-detecting K-9 units and volunteers in fluorescent vests, might continue after election day, BART police said.
"We don't want terrorists to think, 'Cool, after the election we can do anything we want to do,' " said Franklin, a former Oakland police officer and eight-year veteran of the BART force.
The special patrols will also be done at different times of the day throughout the 43-station system, which runs through four counties.
"We decided to have officers do random sweeps," Wong said. "If terrorists want to scope us out, we didn't want them to see our routine."
BART's SWAT team, consisting of 18 officers, two medics and a commander, used to be called SPAR, for the Special Problems and Rescue team. But too many people were confused. "They thought it was a boxing team or something," Gee said.
