Bay Area transit agencies have increased security on their rail systems following the New York City subway shooting on Tuesday, April 12, which left more than 30 people injured, 17 of them from gunshot wounds and the rest from smoke and panic-induced shock.
The shooter, who remains at large, donned a gas mask on a subway train in Brooklyn around 8:30 a.m. Tuesday before throwing a smoke bomb and began firing into a crowd of people on the train.
The chief of police of Bay Area Rapid Transit ?BART? Ed Alvarez said all uniformed officers from the transit agency's police force will be deployed on the train system starting Tuesday, creating a greater police presence compared to the agency's standard daily operations.
"Obviously, our primary concern is the safety of our passengers and our employees, and today we just added a little more emphasis and put anyone who was in uniform out of the system," he said.
Alvarez detailed that while it can be difficult to stop an attack before it happens, BART has more than 4,000 cameras in place throughout the system and a full-time video recovery team.
For its part, the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) said in a statement that it would also increase patrols on its light rail and at light rail stations.
He also said that a pair of bomb-sniffing dogs will patrol the transit system at random during the week to ensure that passengers feel safe.
However, he made it clear that there are no specific threats to his system and that the increased patrol presence is not a response to a credible threat.
Similarly, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, known as MUNI, also said there is no credible threat to its system or other transit systems.
"We are devastated to hear the news and our hearts go out to our transit colleagues in New York and all those affected,?" said MUNI in a statement. "We are working closely with SFPD and monitoring the situation locally."
With information from Bay City News.
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