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A new BART police chief has been selected after a nationwide search, according to BART General Manager Bob Powers.
Interim Chief Kevin Franklin has been promoted to permanent chief, Powers said on Oct. 1. Franklin had been made interim chief in May.
“Chief Franklin is a life-long BART rider with an intimate knowledge of the system and its police department,” Powers said in a statement released by the agency. “Kevin was instrumental in BPD’s new deployment strategy that has significantly increased the presence of uniformed police personnel on trains and in stations. He is not only detail-oriented, but a creative thinker with a deep commitment to our community. I am confident his leadership will help BART continue to improve the safety of our riders.”
BART is attributing several safety improvements to Franklin, including the highest year-to-date arrests since the pandemic and an average response time to priority calls of four minutes.
According to BART, Franklin is an Oakland native who has been on the force for 27 years. He began his career with the Oakland Police Department.
BART also said that Franklin and his family climbed aboard on the agency’s first day of transit, way back in 1972 when he was only 3 years old.
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