The Oaklandside, an independent nonprofit newsroom serving Oakland, California, reports that the Bay Area Rapid Transit System (BART) has released a new report stating violent crime has “dropped by 36% in the first seven months of the year compared to the same period last year,” and points to the installation of new, hardened gates as strong deterrents against fare evasion and crime. However, several crime categories, such as aggravated assaults and simple assaults, have “remained stable or increased,” and riders have seen people bypassing the new gates. The article cites CPE’s report from May that found fare enforcement was not making people feel safer:
This past May, a report from the Center for Policing Equity, a Yale nonprofit research center, based on 14 focus groups, found that nearly a third of participants were afraid of being subjected to violence inside BART. The researchers also found that fare enforcement was not making people feel much safer and was instead leading to disproportionate racial discrimination.
“Fare enforcement operations have detrimental effects on the community, disproportionately impacting Black and Brown riders, as well as individuals who are low-income, people struggling with mental health, and people who are unhoused,” the report said.
Read the article The Oaklandside’s website.