Fighting Crime From Above?

Correction applied 7/31/09

The New York City Metropolitan Transporatation Authority (MTA) is experimenting with surveillancec cameras inside the cars.  Their goal is to put surveillance cameras on one train in a few lines by years end.

According to Tom Namako from The NY Post

Every corner of every car will be in the cameras' view.

The train, which will run on a "letter" line chosen at a later date, will be outfitted with a digital surveillance system that creates a computer-based log of events that can be viewed after a crime or emergency. No one will be watching the images live, but the cameras, authorities believe, will at least make would-be criminals think twice.

"Subways should be equipped with camera capability so we'll be able to determine if a crime has been committed," said MTA board member Norman Seabrook.

The cameras will be a crucial weapon against terror, he said.

"It will also help us get better information on how to deal with a situation should something occur in the post-9/11 world," added Seabrook, who chairs the MTA board's Safety and Security Committee.

"This is not an inexpensive endeavor."

Some MTA buses — mostly in Manhattan — have cameras. And earlier this year, Brooklyn's B46 line, one of the highest-crime routes in the city, received some buses with cameras.

I think this is a great endeavor for the MTA to undertake.  While the MTA has not published the type and amounts of crime that happen in the subway system, certainly a system like this can be used for identification, apprehensions and conviction purposes.

I don't quite agree with Norman Seabrook's comments statinng that these unmanned cameras will be "crucial weapon against terror".  The London underground has had CCTV cameras for years and the goal of that system is to minimize petty crime.  British officials have also looked into using smart CCTV as an anti-terror tool, but there has been no report as to how it works and where it can be effective.

Norman is not the only politician selling these cameras to the public as a way to fight terrorism.  It seems like many politicians will make this claim in order to justify these pricey toys.  Norman should really be making rational statements like how the cameras can be used to assist investigations just like they were instrumental in the London bombings.

Recently, some MTA crime has surfaced and have been captured by what I call "vigilante cameramen".  One of these rogue-commuter-turned-crimefighter caught a  scratchiti "artist" and submitted the pictures to the NYPD crime stoppers.  The artist was identified, apprehended, and soon convicted, although the whole process could have been quite confrontational if the artist saw the cameraman snapping a photo of him.  Citizens should now leave that potentially confrontational situation to the unmanned human-less cameras!