Surveillance cameras will be installed in subway cars across the city as soon as 2015. MTA’s Capital Program has budgeted for 940 new subway cars on the lettered lines and will install the cameras over a period of four years. The 300 recently purchased cars for the C and J lines may also receive the Big Brother treatment.
The head of the MTA, Thomas Prendergast, specifically pointed out sex crimes as an impetus for the increased security. “New York City Transit’s commitment to keeping its customers safe from improper sexual conduct is unwavering,” Pendergrast said in a letter to Public Advocate Letitia James.
The Daily News reports that the MTA is adding “a new feature on its website to make it easier for victims and witnesses of sex crimes in the subway system to make a report” and intends to “ramp up a public education campaign that aims to increase awareness of the threat posed by sexual predators in the subway.”
Hopefully, videos like this will not be necessary soon. (Photo: @michael-semensohn)
