CA: BART Police Chief Issues Statement on DA's Report

BART Police Chief Kenton Rainey released the following statement responding to the release of the Alameda County District Attorney's Office investigation report of the tragic death of BART Police Sergeant Tommy Smith during a probation search in Dublin on Jan. 20.

“The release of this report allows BART Police to move forward with concluding its internal investigation of the tragedy.   Until the internal investigation is complete, I cannot discuss details relating to our ongoing investigation.

Immediately following the tragic incident I took action to begin the process of reviewing and updating our policies, procedures and training to ensure something like this never happens again.  I immediately put into place the requirement that no residential probation or parole searches can be conducted without the approval of a Deputy Chief.  In addition, all Sergeants and Officers were retrained in the use and activation of the Axon – Flex body camera system.  Several members of our Detectives unit, Critical Asset Patrol and K-9 unit team who had not previously attended the ‘Warrants/High Risk Operations’ training put on by Alameda County Sheriff’s Department have now completed that class.  It is my intent to also send our Sergeants and Field Training Officers to this training class as well.

I’ve shared the DA’s report with all BART Police personnel and asked that each person read and consider all the information offered by the outside investigators regarding what they felt transpired before this tragedy occurred.”