The murder of Oscar Grant on January 1st by BART police officers Johannes Mehserle and an as yet unidentified accomplice who held him face down with a knee to the neck has got me (and a lot of people) hopping mad.
There is no need for transit police officers to have lethal force at their disposal.
I love BART. It's a great asset to my lifestyle, being able to commute conveniently with a minimum of pollution. But it makes me fear for my safety knowing that these officers are armed. This morning, I saw a BART officer at the top of the stairs at the Downtown Berkeley station and I waited until he left before leaving the station. I didn't want to be anywhere near him.
Um...disarming the police is like getting rid of the police all together. In this day and age, police NEED to be armed, especially in a place like Oakland. So saying that there is no need for them to be armed is just plain stupid. If criminals KNEW that the BART police were disarmed, some holy crap will go down. What if some guy with an AK-47 came barging in to a BART station and the cops are unarmed? Yes, they are supposed to call the Oakland PD, but they are the first line of defense for the innocent people at the stations. There would be nothing the cops can do except become hostages.
ReplyDeleteDon't get me wrong, I think the cop should be in jail for what he did to Oscar, but the rest of the BART police force shouldn't have to suffer for his screw up. Just the fact that BART police are armed discourages criminals from coming. They feel exactly like you did when you saw the BART cop on the stairs Once you take that factor away, crimes will rise.