Over the last few months, we’ve heard a lot about the MTA’s efforts at securing its system. A ongoing lawsuit against Lockheed Martin has left the current state of subway security in disarray, and approximately half of the system’s 4300 cameras do not work properly. Had everything gone according to plan, by now, the entire subway system would have been outfitted with closed-circuit security cameras.
Generally, this halting attempt at installing cameras doesn’t impact the public. We’ll ride the trains no matter what and hope for the best. But this weekend, two stories highlight both the benefits and limitations of subway security cameras. The first happened right here in New York when a stabbing on Sunday morning left two riders dead and the cops on the hunt for a killer. The NYPD’s efforts have been slowed by the lack of adequate security measures underground.
As Ray Rivera and Michael Grynbaum write in The Times today, Christopher St. — the station through which the alleged perp escaped — has no cameras, and overall, the system’s video surveillance system “remains a patchwork of lifeless cameras, unequipped stations and problem-plagued wiring.”
MTA and New York City officials are aware of the system’s shortcomings. “This definitely should have been recorded on surveillance camera,” Norman Seabrook, head of the MTA’s security committee, said to The Times “Post-9/11, the terrorist bombings that just occurred in Moscow, the two murders that just occurred plus other incidents that continue to occur in the subway system, we cannot wait any longer to ensure the safety of the public.”
Yet, the Moscow bombings, despite Seabrook’s concern, highlight just how useless security cameras can be. During the Monday morning rush hour, two suicide bombers detonated explosives in the Moscow Metro. The bombers are suspected to be a part of some Northern Caucasus separatist groups, and the blasts raised fears through Russia and the rest of the world.
In New York, the NYPD rushed to “activate” a security plan, Reuters reported on Monday. Police details flooded the subway system, and squads were dispatched to major transit hubs around the city. Although there was no suspected link between America’s enemies and the Russian attackers, the city wanted to maintain a strong security footing. It was, MTA spokesman Jeremy Soffin said to amNew York, a “precaution.”
Yet, I wonder if this response is more an example of wishful thinking and the limitations we run up against in defending an open and porous subway system than it is of precaution. By dispatching police after the fact, it is as though security officials are trying to close the barn door after the horse escaped. As former NYPD commissioner Howard Safir said to Heather Haddon, “There are so many entrances, so many stations, so many people. It’s virtually impossible to guarantee that it won’t be vulnerable.”
So where then does that leave New Yorkers on a daily basis? On the one hand, a killer is still at large because he was able to slip out of an unsecured subway system after stabbing two or three men on a subway train car that is surveillance-free. On the other, we are aware of the security risks we face as we ride the trains and now that, while exceedingly rare, a terrorist attack underground can be a devastating and tragic event. As station agents vanish and security dollars languish, the MTA must do what it can to guard against both kinds of subway attacks.
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