For the year 2023, each wagon of the trains of the New York City Subway will have two surveillance cameras. Although, the 225 stations of this transport system are equipped with these systems, the trains are not yet.
With an investment of $5.5 million of state and federal funds, more than 7 thousand devices will be installed video recording, in each of the 3, 472 wagons. A security program that had already started “as a trial” at some stations this summer.
In addition, through this initiative, which is part of a plan by the Department of Homeland Security, they will finance approximately 3,576 cameras that will enlarge coverage in 50 seasons.
“We are expanding our security capacity, to deter crime, by providing support to our law enforcement agencies. We will continue to do everything in our power to keep passengers safe,” Governor Kathy Hochul announced from a train maintenance station in Corona, Queens.
When installation begins, 200 additional train cars per month will have these devices, until the entire fleet is 80% equipped. When the new R655 wagons are put into operation at the beginning of 2023, they will already have a camera.
Identify thugs faster
For his part, the president and executive director of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), Janno Lieber, pondered that within “a very short time” those who commit crimes in the transit system will be identified more quickly and brought to justice.
“Passengers should know that we support them throughout the trip”, he remarked.
So far 2019, the number of complaints in the transit system, including assaults, shoves, stabbings and harassment, is almost same as at this point of 1152, according to data from the MTA.
But what is worrying is that the number of Subway passengers is still not even close to where it was before the pandemic. Currently they move approximately one % of travelers less than prior to the public health crisis.
On many occasions, the Police Department of The City of New York (NYPD) receives complaints from passengers, who have been attacked or robbed inside cars and only with spoken portraits they try to identify the criminals.
To cite just one example, among hundreds of incidents, in a recent incident a man who offered to help a tourist took her to the end of a station platform in Manhattan and raped her , reported NYPD.
The young victim of years old entered the Port Authority Metro station in 42nd St. and 8th Ave. around 3 a.m. when the man approached her and offered to guide her around, according to police.
The tourist from St. Louis did not know where she was , when the man led her into a tunnel at the end of a platform and raped her, according to the complaint. Without any type of record in security cameras, the Uniformed tries to find the whereabouts of the subject through sketches and spoken portraits.
In the new surveillance scheme, the cameras will not be able to be monitored live, but will provide investigators with video footage after a crime.
“Cameras are not enough”
Since the beginning of this year and high-profile violent incidents began to be recorded within the most important transportation system in the Big Apple , both the City and the state government have brought more police officers to the stations and have increased surveillance in the most violent areas.
For some early-morning train users, such as the Mexican worker Javier Sarazoga, nothing has been enough for stations like 74 St at Roosevelt Ave.
“The detail is that criminals are not afraid of the police, much the less you will be afraid that they will be recorded. It’s terrifying to be here at night and stay alone in a car. Something happens every day,” said the immigrant.
Colombian Flora Lazarrabal, a resident of Queens, has another perspective on this matter: “There is a mental health problem, with homeless people who have no conscience no problem. The cameras will prevent petty crimes, but not serious attacks carried out by people who don’t care. Much less that there are recordings of them. There is a serious underlying problem”.
Likewise, the NYPD commissioner, Keechant Sewell, explained that existing cameras are already being used with “great success” to solve crimes.
“This step will further enhance our investigative capabilities to provide effective and efficient public safety, both underground and above ground“, he concluded.
The data:
7,310 cameras in total will be arranged in 3, 655 wagons of the entire Subway system.