BART to hire social workers instead of filling police officer vacancies to deal with social problems FacebookTwitterEmail BART plans to use nearly $2 million budgeted to fill six vacant police officer positions to hire social work-trained civilians to respond to homelessness, mental illness and drug addiction that plague the train system. The plan introduced Friday adds a supervisor and 20 crisis intervention specialists to connect people in need with services — twice as many as were approved by the board last year — to the agency’s new bureau of progressive policing. It will also redeploy 10 existing sworn officers, two sergeants and two community service officers to the bureau. The plan is to pair a civilian with an officer who can stand by in case law enforcement is needed.