Opinion: Why doesn't BART add community members to the new Chief search process?

Published on Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Last updated on 12:23PM, Friday, January 1, 2010
BART GM Dorothy Dugger, who announced the appointment of Daschel Butler as interim BART Chief.

BART GM Dorothy Dugger, who announced the appointment of Daschel Butler as interim BART Chief.

BART General Manager Dorothy Dugger announced today that she has selected former Berkeley Police Chief Daschel Butler'to serve as the BART Police Department's interim chief while the agency conducts a nationwide search to permanently replace retiring Police Chief Gary Gee whose last day is December 30.

Former Berkeley Police Chief Daschel Butler's appointment will be effective after he clears the State of California's Peace Officers Standards and Training (POST) administrative requirements, possibly in mid-January.

Dugger praised Butler for his 31-year career with the Berkeley PD (he retired in May 2002), and said, ""Daschel served the Berkeley Police Department as its chief for 12 years with distinction and honor. He brings to BART a wealth of knowledge, respect and integrity."

The BART press release about Butler's appointment says that the public and the BART Board's Police Department Review Committee are assisting Duggar--and the search firm she hired--in the search, but there's no visible evidence that the public is or will be involved in any way that isn't purely superficial.

Does BART think that one poorly attended meeting on December 19th to discuss criteria for a new chief and publishing an online survey that asks the public to identify words that qualities to hire for equals actual community involvement?

I hope not.

BART should take the next steps and actually involve the community in the review and hiring process. 

Dugger and her crew need to define criteria for community members on the hiring committee and then fast-track a process that will enlist community members to review applicants and participate in the process, start to finish.

I'd like to see BART walk their talk, for a change.  While it's nice to know an experienced officer is going to helm BART for the next 3 months, I'd feel a whole lot better if I knew some of the people of Oakland--even just one or two--were going to have some actual, authentic input on who will run BART PD for the next set of years.

Come on, BART, step up to the plate and offer some of the leadership and transparency that will make change start to happen.

 

 

 

About Susan Mernit
Susan Mernit is the founder of Oakland Local. She is also a circuit rider for The Community Information Challenge, a program of The John S and James L Knight Foundation, and a consultant to non-profit and community organizations. Susan lives in North Oakland, near the Santa Fe school, with her partner, her housemate, a rescue dog named Cazzie, and a yard full of ants. She is an aspiring gardener, a long-time blogger & entrepreneur, and a recovering journalist who's found home in Oakland.
Anonymous commented at Wed, 30 Dec at 12:19am

Let's see, someone said "BART should take the next steps and actually involve the community in the review and hiring process" 

Why? What company or business lets the community review its hiring process. The hiring of an Police officer or chief is something that is done by the Deptment that is hiring him/Her. Everyone wants to give their 2 cents, but where are these same people when the Police need help. If you are not standing up for the police then I say... Sit your ass down and stay out of the process.

Susan Mernit commented at Wed, 30 Dec at 2:04am

Actually, the police and the government work for us. They're not private businesses and we are their stakeholders. Further, there are parts of local government--like the Port of Oakland, that have citizens involved in their Board of Directors. Margaret Gordon from West Oakland is often held up as an example of a citizen who sits on a board as a community member.  Urban Habitat has a program going on that trains women of color and low-income women to be knowledgeable and able to serve on boards and commissions.  So I don't think the idea of involving citizens is anything new in general--even though it is a step BART has not taken.  And it would be great for BART to involve some people they have not treated well and listen to them and work together to hire someone who could require a higher standard and different behavior.

Neil commented at Wed, 30 Dec at 4:03am

I'd rather leave the hiring to people who know what they're doing instead of letting various "community members" with various agendas have any influence over the process.  The "community" doesn't exactly have a good track record of doing anything right in this ever-blighted city, either.   The less say Oakland has in anything, the better the results will be.

Anonymous commented at Wed, 30 Dec at 8:41am

I saw the headline, "why doesn't BART add community" and thought:  what a great idea, why doesn't BART add  Community Guides (subprofessional, uniformed personnel) who would ride the trains and roam from car to car.  Then I clicked to read the page and was disappointed. 

Susan Mernit commented at Wed, 30 Dec at 4:01pm

Anonymous, you're right, this piece is not about adding uniformed guides to BART trains. Neil, as you already know, I don't share the view that past failure mean it's not worth doing some new things. There are so many people in Oakland who are working to make things better--sometimes against high odds. BART owes it to the people it serves to give a few of them some input into the process so the selection isn't completely insular. Since the Board would way outnumber the citizens, I think their views would hold sway--but regular people could make sure broader concerns were raised--and discussed.