Saturday, October 30, 2004

bart swat?

In anticipation of evil election-time shenanigans, BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit, our train system that links the East Bay with San Francisco and runs thousands of happy people down to the airport every day) has announced that they're bumping up security throughout the system, just like New York and DC. Bomb-sniffing dogs, folks in bright green vests, and SWAT teams.

I had no idea that the BART Police had SWAT teams. I mean, I know I shouldn't be surprised; the officers you do see around on the platforms and trains have guns and everything. But I mostly think about them wandering around making sure nobody eats or plays loud music or hawks loogies onto the cloth seats. When there's a hostage situation, where do the BART SWAT snipers take their positions? On the escalators? Do they have their own bomb squad? They must.

It's going to take a little doing for me to get my head around this. And once I've accepted it, I plan to start work on a TV pilot about the pulse-pounding adventures of transit cops. Because really, nobody else has done it.