Eyebrows raised again at BART Police, this time over controversial patch redesign

By TIM JUE
Beat Staff Writer
June 8, 2009

A redesign of the BART Police logo that removed the word “BART” from it is drawing fire from transit board members and critics of the embattled law enforcement agency.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported Monday that the new logo is being sewn onto officers’ uniforms this week. It only includes the term “police” across the top of the shield, and more subdued “Bay Area Rapid Transit” lettering surrounds a state of California seal.

Given the extreme public backlash that the BART Police Dept. has received in the wake of the Oscar Grant shooting incident, where a transit agency police officer was captured on numerous video cameras shooting and killing an unarmed passenger as he laid on a train station platform, the patch redesign is being met with outrage.Leading that vocal outcry: BART Board Member Lynette Sweet.

“It’s one of the stupidest things I’ve heard,” she told the newspaper.

A BART spokesperson explains that the redesign was ordered by embattled agency Police Chief Gary Gee one year ago. It was done so covertly that neither the BART Board (which oversees the transit agency) nor the public affairs department was aware of the change.