MTA installing 2 cameras on each of its more than 6,300 subway cars
NEW YORK -- Numbers from the NYPD show subway crimes have skyrocketed since the beginning of the year.
Tuesday, Gov. Kathy Hochul and MTA leaders unveiled a major new initiative they hope will stop the bad guys in their tracks - or at the very least, convince them to think twice.
The MTA plans to install cameras on every single subway car in the entire fleet.
As CBS2's Marcia Kramer reports, you might call this the MTA's "Smile, you're on 'Candid Camera'" offensive.
Over the next several years, every subway car on every single line will have security cameras to record crime on the subway - and it's not a minute too soon.
"You think Big Brother's watching you on the subways? You're absolutely right," Hochul said.
It was tough talk from Hochul as she and MTA Chairman Janno Lieber strode into an MTA maintenance yard to inspect the first security cameras being installed on the MTA fleet.
Ironically, the announcement came just hours after a 45-year-old man was stabbed on a southbound number 2 train heading to Winthrop station in the Prospect-Lefferts Gardens neighborhood.
As they try to get some reluctant riders to return to subways, officials argued that crime this year is down 4.6% compared to 2019, the year before the pandemic, when ridership was about 5.5 million.
But the assertion that crimes is down was challenged by reporters, pointing out that NYPD stats show crime is up nearly 46% since Jan. 1, with 1,618 incidents compared to 1,110 last year, when ridership was 2.3 million.
"We're in no way suggesting we're out of the woods," Lieber said. "But, in fairness to the public, we gotta keep them posted, because this is a matter of real concern."
Here are the numbers - 6,455 subway cars will each have two cameras. That means 12,000 cameras will have their eye on you.
"If you prey on New Yorkers or you commit vandalism or damage MTA facilities, we're going to have pictures of you, and the NYPD is going to find you, going to catch you and going to punish you," Lieber said.
Video is high quality and sharp, as officials demonstrated when they walked into a car that had already been outfitted with the camera.
"I think it's a great idea ... because things happen on the subway that they can't police," said Harlem resident Tony Oakley.
"Have you ever felt unsafe on the subway?" Kramer asked.
"Yes ... There was a guy that was verbally attacking everybody, and he came right up to me, in my face," Oakley said.
"I'm of two minds. Privacy is important, but so is safety. Maybe it's a draw," one person said.
"I don't know if it will make me feel safer, but if something were to happen, at least there will be some kind of evidence," another person said.
City Council officials praised the move, but the New York Civil Liberties Union questioned the need for more surveillance cameras in New York City, saying "living in a sweeping surveillance state shouldn't be the price we pay to be safe."
"Anyone who commits a crime or an offense or an infraction on our subways, once these are all installed, you will be caught," Hochul said.
It could take as long as three years to install all the cameras.
The cameras have already been installed in more than 200 cars.
They will be paid for by a combination of grants from a federal fund and the MTA budget.
