It has come to our attention that early last fall the BART Board of Directors, bowing to intense pressure from people who claim to be privacy advocates, backed away from staff efforts to ensure security and safety in BART cars and in and around BART stations.

The Bay Area Transportation Working Group (BATWG) strongly supports reasonable security arrangements conducted in accordance with established state and federal law. From our review of case law and elements of the government code, it appears to be quite legal to visually monitor people in legitimately public areas. These would include the interiors of BART trains, the public areas inside BART stations and BART-owned public areas around BART stations.

At a time when traffic congestion in the Bay Area has become the secnd or third worst in the entire United States, it is disturbing to find transit ridership dropping. In order to reverse this destructive trend a greater effort must be made to identify, reduce and ultimately eliminate the various factors causing would-be transit riders to turn away at a time when more transit use is needed to reduce traffic. One of the most of damaging of these is the inappropriate and often illegal actions of some individuals in and around BART stations and on BART trains.

Most transit patrons are intent upon getting to their destinations and prefer to be left alone to read, sleep, engage in private conversations or use their cell phones. But in today’s world that is often not possible. It doesn’t take a million-dollar study to recognize that riders are less than happy with the situation when they frequently experience or witness fare evasion, theft, spaced-out drug addicts, drunks sprawled across two or three seats, loud music, acrobatic panhandling, abusive or profane language and actions that are obnoxious and even threatening.

Some riders don’t much care what they encounter during their transit trips. But others care a great deal. It is a certainty that unacceptable in-station and on-car behavior is causing would-be transit riders to turn away. So what is there to do about the problem? Putting attendants or perhaps police on every train car and every bus would help … but it’s unrealistic to think that a transit property could afford to provide that level of personal security. Establishing and posting clear rules would let observant riders know what was not OK, but wouldn’t constitute much of a deterrent.

One important security measure that has not as yet been adequately deployed is video surveillance. As indicated above, it appears to be well established that the law permits video surveillance in ordinary public places, excluding bathrooms and other locations that are generally understood to be private.

We are convinced that most riders would much prefer to be videotaped than offended, bullied, threatened or victimized. To detect, apprehend and perhaps deter inappropriate actions, cameras should be mounted where and as necessary. And it goes without saying that to be effective a video surveillance system must be accompanied by diligent monitoring and vigorous follow-up.

Gerald Cauthen, of Oakland, is the Bay Area Transportation Working Group’s president.