BART Board to Take Up Cellphone-Shutdown Policy Tracking ACLU’s Advice
A draft policy allowing cellphone service shutdowns on BART only over “extraordinary” risks of injury, damage to the San Francisco regional rail system, or “substantial” disruption of service will be taken up by the governing board Oct. 27, its president said Wednesday. The board could vote on the policy then, but changes resulting from suggestions in public comments at the meeting or otherwise could put the decision off to the next meeting, scheduled for Nov. 17, President Bob Franklin told us. He said Bay Area Rapid Transit heard Monday from the FCC that it hasn’t decided whether to put out for public comment a petition challenging a July shutdown ordered to forestall a political demonstration in a downtown San Francisco station.
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The draft, posted online Wednesday, largely follows recommendations that the ACLU of Northern California offered in a September letter, said Franklin and Michael Risher, a lawyer with the organization. A point of contention could be who is permitted to make a shutdown decision, they said. The draft puts the authority in the hands of the system’s general manager. Franklin said some think the board president and BART’s police chief also should have the power. Risher said the ACLU wants the elected board or someone directly accountable to it to have the authority. He said the organization doesn’t endorse the draft, but it’s “very protective of free speech."
The “District may implement a temporary interruption of operation of the System Cellular Equipment only when it determines that there is strong evidence of imminent unlawful activity that threatens the safety of District passengers, employees and other members of the public, the destruction of District property, or the substantial disruption of public transit services; that the interruption will substantially reduce the likelihood of such unlawful activity; that such interruption is essential to protect the safety of District passengers, employees and other members of the public, to protect District property or to avoid substantial disruption of public transit services; and that such interruption is narrowly tailored to those areas and time periods necessary to protect against the unlawful activity,” says the draft (http://bart.gov/docs/BART_Cell_Interruption_Policy.pdf).
Examples of “extraordinary circumstances” justifying shutdowns “include, but are not limited to, strong evidence of use of cell phones (i) as instrumentalities in explosives; (ii) to facilitate violent criminal activity or endanger District passengers, employees or other members of the public, such as hostage situations; and (iii) to facilitate specific plans or attempts to destroy District property or substantially disrupt public transit services.”