New York will put security cameras on every subway car: Officials said on Tuesday that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority would put surveillance cameras in every subway vehicle in New York City.
Democratic New York Governor Kathy Hochul said that the cameras would increase passengers’ trust in the security of the public transportation system.
Building on a pilot program that saw cameras put in 100 cars. It intended to deploy two cameras in each of the 6,355 subway trains. The MTA said that the project should finish by 2025.
The installation will cost $3.5 million from the MTA. The remaining $2 million will come from DHS’s Urban Area Security Initiative.
Although they don’t always function, there are already surveillance cameras at the more than 470 stations in the subway system.
The decision on Tuesday came five months after a man opened fire with a rifle on subway riders in Brooklyn, hitting ten people in a highly uncommon incident.
All the victims recovered from their wounds. But issues with the station’s surveillance cameras made it difficult for investigators to find the gunman.
The manufacturer of the cameras utilized in the trial program and if the vendor will still employ in the expansion were both refused by an MTA representative.
The New York Civil Liberties Union accused the MTA of maintaining an excessive level of secrecy on surveillance. Having provided no information regarding how camera data will evaluate and maintained. And has provided no proof that increasing the use of cameras increases safety.
“Living in a widespread surveillance state shouldn’t be the price we pay for safety,” says NYCLU’s Daniel Schwarz.
After the COVID-19 epidemic hit the United States in 2020, subway use plunged. But it has since slowly recovered to roughly 3.7 million journeys on an average daily.
Police figures show that there have been more than 390 robberies on the subway so far this year. Compared to more than 320 during the same period in 2019.
According to Danny Pearlstein, a representative for the transportation advocacy organization Riders Alliance, there are more urgent areas for investment.
He said, “the governor should also invest in more regular public transport service to reduce platform wait times and attract more users, promoting safety in numbers.”