Crisis Intervention Specialist Stephine Barnes shares her story of helping those on BART in need
Stephine Barnes has been with BART for 27 years, working as a Station Agent and caring for riders taking BART all around the Bay Area.
In the past year, Barnes has transitioned from the station agent booth to the station platforms and trains as a new Crisis Intervention Specialist, a new position within the BART Police Department created to help improve public safety on BART.
Crisis Intervention Specialists are unarmed, unsworn BPD employees who have a background in social services. Crisis Intervention Specialists are tasked with proactively riding trains and walking platforms to respond to reports of people in the BART system who are experiencing a crisis with mental health, a lack of housing, or drug issues, and connect them with services.
Barnes and her team are responsible for making contact with riders found in the system that primarily need help and services and assisting them on the spot. A goal for Crisis Intervention Specialists is to engage riders in a nonthreatening, nonviolent manner, and referring those in need to local services in housing, food, mental health, and drug addictions.
"We're saying, 'Hey, we're not here to judge why you're here. You don't have to tell us why you're here," said Barnes. "But I'm basically here to check in with you and say, 'Hey, somebody cares. We're out here looking around. Is there any way we can help redirect you and help you get on your way?'"
Barnes joins a team of Crisis Intervention Specialists who have been hard at work for months. In January, BART Communications followed CIS Yolanda Barbosa and Natalie Robinson in their overnight shift patrolling Embarcadero Station and engaging those found in the station without a home to head to for the night. Barbosa and Robinson have maintained contact with an unhoused elderly man who has previously turned down help despite deteriorating health; this time, the man accepted assistance from Barbosa and Robinson, then familiar faces, and was taken to a hospital in San Francisco.
As of July 2022, BART has hired 16 Crisis Intervention Specialists. BPD ultimately hopes to have 20 Crisis Intervention Specialists deployed across the system. CISes are part of BPD’s new Progressive Policing and Community Engagement Bureau, which also employ Transit Ambassadors who provide an additional unarmed presence along the BART system. Currently, the Crisis Intervention Specialist role is open for hiring at bart.gov/jobs. Those who are interested and qualify -- a Bachelor's degree in Psychology, Sociology, Social Work, or a related field and at least two years of experience in social work or related experience -- may apply for the position in our Online Job Application Portal by searching Job ID number 9334.
Barnes said she recognizes that many of those whom she contacts in the system are at a very vulnerable position. She stressed the importance of treating t them with dignity and empathy to help them back on their feet.
"We see people at their lowest points," said Barnes. "And the human spirit that keeps these people walking and standing and moving and trying is -- it's incredible."