During Monday morning's news conference at the Powell Street BART Station, Matthew Bettenhausen, the governor's Director of the Office of Homeland Security, handed top BART officials a giant mock check symbolizing the $5.4 million allocation BART will receive. The $5.4 million is the first installment from the $19.9 billion Proposition 1B bond measure, which voters approved last year in November.
"From day one, the governor has pledged that public safety is priority number one," Bettenhausen said. It's why he added security funds into the bond measure in the first place. This is the first installment of a billion dollar payment to transit security in the state. I'm proud to deliver these funds to BART and it shows the governor and we at OHS are moving quickly to put the money to good use."
"We are truly grateful for the governor's support of Proposition 1B, which sets aside $ 1 billion of the $19.9 billion solely for security enhancements," said BART Board of Directors President Lynette Sweet who accepted the ceremonial check alongside Director Carole Ward Allen who chairs BART's Security Committee, Director James Fang who represents the Powell Street Station and BART General Manager Dorothy Dugger. "For security reasons we cannot tell you how many cameras we'll be purchasing, or exactly where we'll be installing them, but rest assured the money will go a very long way in making our riders even safer than they are today," Sweet said.
The cameras BART will purchase with the $5.4 million will do more than fight terrorism. "In this day and age, when people think about security, they usually think terrorism," said Director Ward Allen. "But these cameras will also help BART Police fight regular crime as well. These cameras will deter both crime and terrorism as well as provide a valuable tool for investigators to use should an incident occur."
"The safety and security of our passengers is our top concern," Fang said. "It's particularly important that we strategically use these funds to implement a program that enhances the protection we provide our 350,000 daily riders who use BART's 43 stations each weekday."
BART already has many cameras in its system. "What BART will do with this $5.4 million is to standardize our camera system so that all cameras are state-of-the-art," Ward Allen said.
