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Ammiano to hold hearing on BART Police

Posted on by Josh Richman

Assembly Public Safety Committee Chairman Tom Ammiano announced today that he’ll hold an informational hearing on how the BART Police department is progressing with implementing new civilian oversight and management audit recommendations made last year.

“With three deaths in three years, we need to ensure that BART police are properly trained and following procedures,” Ammiano, D-San Francisco, said in his news release. “I urge the SFPD and BART to be transparent and share the results of their investigation into the death of Charles Hill with the public as soon as possible.”

Hill was shot and killed July 3 in San Francisco’s Civic Center station; it since has been reported that he was armed with a bottle and two knives.

Ammiano said the hearing date will be announced shortly, likely in mid-August at the State Capitol.

Ammiano in 2009 reacted to the fatal shooting of Oscar Grant by BART Police Officer Johannes Mehserle by introducing AB 312, which would’ve created an Office of Citizen Complaints for the agency. Instead, the Legislature passed and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed AB 1586 – by Assemblyman Sandre Swanson, D-Alameda – into law last year, creating a Civilian Review Board and Independent Police Auditor for the BART Police.

Josh Richman

Josh Richman covers state and national politics for the Bay Area News Group. A New York City native, he earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Missouri and reported for the Express-Times of Easton, Pa. for five years before coming to the Oakland Tribune and ANG Newspapers in 1997. He is a frequent guest on KQED Channel 9’s “This Week in Northern California;” a proud father; an Eagle Scout; a somewhat skilled player of low-stakes poker; a rather good cook; a firm believer in the use of semicolons; and an unabashed political junkie who will never, EVER seek elected office.

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  • RR, senile columnist

    The saintly figures dispatched by BART Police are Funnyman Tom’s target audience. The police are reviewed by themselves, the DA and the courts. That’s plenty “reviewing”.

  • Chet

    These anti-police sissy’s won’t be happy till they completely ruin the Bay Area police departments. Crime is already out of hand in SF and they keep bashing the police!! It used to be that if a police officer shot an unarmed man there would be protests, rightly so. (in some cases) Now, the idiots are siding with the armed violent criminals!! You have a guy running around the BART station, high on who know what, with a knife raised at eye level throwing bottles and injuring people, he charges the police and the idiots expect the officers to reason with him???? Then you have a guy shooting at SFPD officers, who is wanted for murdering a 19 yr old girl and the idiots protest when he is shot and killed???

    I think the “Medical Marijuana” is showing it’s side effects.

  • Elwood

    Tommy is definitely the cutest legislator!

    If only that counted for something!