These BART stations tally the most arrests

Here are the top 12 BART stations with the most arrests in 2017. Here are the top 12 BART stations with the most arrests in 2017. Photo: Liz Hafalia/The Chronicle Photo: Liz Hafalia/The Chronicle Image 1 of / 18 Caption Close These BART stations tally the most arrests 1 / 18 Back to Gallery

Can you guess which of BART's 48 stations leads the rest in arrests?

If your quick answer was Civic Center/UN Plaza Station, there's a good chance you've seen it for yourself.

Somewhat unsurprisingly, Civic Center tallied the most arrests in 2017 of any BART station, amassing more than Lake Merritt, the Coliseum and West Oakland stations combined.

Long known for vagrancy and drug use, Civic Center/UN Plaza BART station had 453 arrests, over 100 more than second-place Powell station, which had 344, according to records the transit agency provided to SFGATE.

BART spokesperson Alicia Trost said San Francisco is very dense, so more police interactions tend to take place there.

"Civic and Powell are busy stations for calls for service year after year, so it makes sense it has the most arrests," she wrote in a statement to SFGATE. "Civic [Center] and Powell also have much higher ridership than the Alameda County stations."

The most common arrests were for outstanding warrants — both misdemeanor and felony — followed by resisting/obstructing an officer, possessing unlawful paraphernalia, disorderly conduct with alcohol, possession of narcotics and evading fare, records show.

Drug offenses are also more prevalent in San Francisco than at the Alameda County stations, according to Trost.

This summer, BART's Civic Center Station became the first in the transit agency's system with a kiosk for dirty drug needles, part of a deal with the city to increase police patrols and clean up areas in and around the station.

ALSO READ: BART's Civic Center station gets needle kiosk as part of cleanup push

Officials came up with the measures after local news stations aired footage in April of people in the station injecting drugs or slumped against the wall.

Plans are also in place for BART to integrate with the city's Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing and the Department of Public Health, which handle nonemergency homelessness complaints, street behavioral issues and drug-treatment services.

"Our stations are a reflection of the community outside our stations," BART Chief Carlos Rojas told the San Francisco Chronicle in June. "We're dealing with the same folks. If someone is shooting up, there are times when they're street-side and other times when they're coming down to BART. Solidifying the communication between [BART and the city] and giving us access to their resources like the public health folks — that's huge."

On August 27, BART announced that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) had awarded the transit agency $6.8 million in grants to pay for continued police patrols on trains traveling through BART's busiest stations, interoperable radio communications systems and for upgraded security cameras at Powell Street, Civic Center and 16th Street Mission stations.

Click on the slideshow above to see which BART stations had the most arrests in 2017.