SFist Tonight
Week Around the Ists
SFist Tonight
Photo by Jim Herd.
Not too stupid to miss a prime opportunity to get in some face time, Assemblymember Tom Ammiano, Senator Leland Yee, and freshly crowned San Francisco Supervisor David Campos stood atop the steps of the California State Building in San Francisco yesterday, asking for an increase in accountability and public oversight for BART police. This, of course, stems from the New Year's Day Frutivale BART station shooting of Oscar Grant.
Cynicism aside, the three lawmakers plan on introducing a bill "that will finally ensure an independent oversight body is established, public input is accepted, complaints and grievances are fairly considered, and responsible action is taken." It seems any and all complaints against BART officers have been investigated internally without any independent review looking over their shoulders. "This is a classic case of the fox guarding the hen house," the troubled trio went on to say.
Do we need a third party to overlook the people who overlook BART police issues? All signs point to yes. Will said independent oversight body be muddled down by bureaucracy and in-fighting. Most likely.
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Would this oversight body have stopped the shooting last week?
No, an oversight body's function would not be to prevent shootings like last weeks. They'd simply be serving the function of independently investigating such events, and/or investigating the investigators of such events.
lol all this shit goes on right outside of my office and I never even hear it. This building must have great insulation.
more committees to overwatch committes full of people who overwatch other people who don't give a shit about anything except covering their own ass
Quit yer eyerolling! This is a basic good-government check/balance that should have been implemented 40 years ago when the BART police were created.