Security Hits: NYPD radio problems, state oversight

As the weekend nears, how about some good old fashioned subway security fearmongering? First up, in a story that should surprise no one, the 15-year, hundred-million-dollar effort to bring subway-to-surface NYPD radio access to the subways has not been a success, amNew York reported this week. The City, TA and NYPD have invested $144 million into a system that cannot bridge the gap between stations and the world above, and the three sides are deflecting blame as it will require at least another $28 million to fix the system. “All were aware of the significant challenges that getting this system in place posed,” Kevin Ortiz, MTA spokesman, said.

Meanwhile, in Albany, a state senator from Queens wants to usher a bill through that would add another layer of oversight to the MTA’s security efforts. The bill would, as the Queens Chronicle reports, allow the Department of Homeland Security to “examine bus and subway infrastructure safeguards, issue findings and recommendations and see that those proposals are implemented.”

Mike Gianaris, a Democrat from Astoria who has sponsored this legislation, issued a statement: “We need anti-terrorism experts to oversee the security measures in place and ensure all necessary steps are being taken to make our mass-transit system as safe as possible.” Gianaris, who is concerned with the decreasing number of MTA employees working in stations, has his heart seemingly in the right place, but this effort, if it goes anywhere, should add security oversight and not unfunded obligations which the MTA cannot afford.