BART cops began training in community policing this week as part of the transit agency’s efforts to improve its police force after the Oscar Grant killing.

The agency said it wants to reorganize its police force in a way that would have transit cops act more like neighborhood beat cops. They will be more familiar with the communities they patrol and their citizens, officials said.

BART officers and

also staffers are now attending the program, formerly called Community Oriented Policing & Problem Solving.

The BART police department was criticized for having a disconnect with Bay Area communities and for lacking trained officers after Grant, who was unarmed, was shot to death by former BART cop Johannes Mehserle.

The shooting occurred on a train station platform Jan. 1, 2009, and caused social unrest in Oakland and other Bay Area cities.

maldax@sfexaminer.com