Thoughts on BART
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layout: post
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title: Thoughts on BART and Protesting
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tags:
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- opinion
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- bart
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- protesting
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- opbart
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/agentdero/6072365548/"
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title="Keeping SF clean by agentdero, on Flickr"><img
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src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6199/6072365548_03f63a2d17_m.jpg"
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width="180" height="240" alt="Keeping SF clean" align="left" hspace="10"></a>
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After leaving work yesterday, I walked with the protestors who were parading up
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and down Market St., while I'm ideologically in line with the protestors I
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wasn't really doing much other than walking, and occasionally tidying up, as
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captured by one of the other protestors in this image (that's me picking a
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trashcan up out of the road).
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I wanted to jot down my opinions in a cohesive post, rather than a jumble of
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tweets or retweets [on twitter](https://twitter.com/agentdero).
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<br clear="all"/>
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* I don't necessarily think BART Police *must* be disbanded, but I do believe
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that the majority of its officers should _not_ be carrying guns. The first
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thing that's typically taught in Gun Safety classes is that you do not pull out
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a gun [in self-defense] unless you're absolutely certain you need to and are
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going to use it. An extension of that, in my opinion, is that you should not be
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carrying a gun unless it's necessary and you're going to be using it. BART
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Police should have guns at their disposal, but there is no need for every
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officer that walks the beat to carry a firearm.
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* Disrupting cell phone service for public safety on the platforms is
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reasonable in my mind, subject to judicious oversight. Disrupting cell
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phone service in _anticipation_ or in order to _prevent_ a protest is absolute
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crap.
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* BART's decision to simply shut down stations for a protest is absurd, it
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makes it incredibly easy for *any* protest in the future to gain a massive
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amount of press. Tip off BART that you will be protesting on a platform, get
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them to shut down the station, regroup above ground. That said, I don't know
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what a good solution would be, hundreds of people on the platform *is* unsafe.
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But it is also something that happens *every single day* during rush hour on
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BART platforms in downtown San Francisco.
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----
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I fear that the BART Board of Directors, or the Chief of BART Police might feel
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like they cannot make any "concessions" to the protestors at all, which would
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be most unfortunate. Would the public/press view their actions positively if
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they acknowledged mistakes and heavy-handedness by BART Police?
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I hope those involved in BART operations are able to see the root of the cause
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of this episode of civil unrest and do something proactive about it instead of
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continually sending men and women in riot gear to meet a frustrated populace
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on the streets of San Francisco.
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