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CHAPTER FIVE
CASE STUDIES
INTRODUCTION Santa Clara counties in California in 1998, with service
provided between the cities of Stockton and San Jose. The
Five case studies were developed to explore various aspects system, which is managed by the San Joaquin Regional
of how systems integrate or expand existing electronic video Rail Commission, comprises 86 route miles and includes
surveillance into their operations. The case studies provide 10 stations serviced by 6 locomotives and 24 Bombardier
descriptions of actual decisions that agencies are faced with bi-level rail cars, each category of which averaged about 9
in planning for installation of video on their rail systems, and years of service in 2009. Railcars include 110-volt AC out-
attempt to fill a paucity of data on such matters by describing lets, restrooms in every car, and a bicycle car. There are
how specific agencies have addressed these and related issues. bicycle lockers at every station except Fremont. Plans to
The case studies are also intended as catalysts for additional introduce onboard Internet service were suspended in mid-
research and for discussions among transit agencies to learn 2009 as a result of economic constraints. The annual rider-
from each other. Quantitative research provides a broad over- ship is 797,224; annual operating costs are $16.2 million,
view of industry practices but single-site reportage can more and annual capital costs are $69 million. According to the
fully address particular aspects of a problem. Formal discus- Bay Rail Alliance, ACE would like to add service but is con-
sions can highlight recurring problems and successes, and strained by the amount of freight traffic because the rails on
informal discussions among agency managers can provide a which ACE operates are owned by the UPRR.
forum where missteps are more likely to be shared with the
goal of saving others from making similar miscalculations. Security Organization and Personnel
Case studies are intended to combine these elements by shar- ACE has no dedicated law enforcement agency and does
ing experiences of specific agencies to assist others in better not directly employ any police officers from the local police
articulating the needs of their own transit systems. The transit departments whose jurisdictions it travels through. Two sta-
agencies represented are varied enough that almost all systems tions fall within the same policing jurisdiction; the others
can take something from them that can be transferred to other each fall within a different agency's territory. In addition,
venues. The agencies provide geographic, size, and system type Amtrak police and UPRR police also have jurisdiction,
balance. They were selected with the goal of providing ideas requiring ACE to coordinate its law enforcement efforts
that everyone can use--some to a greater degree than oth- with nine separate police departments. This is in reality a
ers--but containing best practices or things to avoid that have minimum number, as the rail system overlaps two of the
a certain universality. The aim is to share information and help UPRR police districts and also falls within two separate
to educate transit agencies considering enhancing their video TSA districts (Oakland and San Jose).
surveillance systems by helping them make informed decisions
based on learning from what others have learned. To facilitate W hile these somewhat complicated arrangements could
making the maximum use of the case studies, each one begins present problems with either over- or under-enforcement,
with an overview of the transit agency and its policing/security ACE has built personal relationships with each department.
configuration in order to place the ways in which video surveil- Transit managers believe that the system and its passengers
lance is used and monitored into the larger context of the agen- receive adequate police coverage. Officers from the local
cies' overall security goals and protection strategies. departments ride the trains and are encouraged to patrol
parking areas and to make use of station facilities as a way
to increase uniformed police presence. In addition, local and
CASE STUDY 1: ALTAMONT COMMUTER EXPRESS, SAN railroad police use a recently constructed security kiosk at
JOAQUIN REGIONAL RAIL COMMISSION, CALIFORNIA ACE headquarters as a substation to augment coverage pro-
vided by ACE's facility watchman. Wi-Fi is available for first
Description of the Transit System responders to use at the kiosk. In addition, ACE provides a
small conference table, chairs, water, and coffee to encour-
The Altamont Commuter Express (ACE) began providing age law enforcement officers to use the kiosk, enhancing
commuter rail service between San Joaquin, Alameda, and the agency's partnerships and providing high visibility at
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ACE headquarters. Information not publicly available was of the funding priorities. In 2009, a total of $28 million was
provided for the case study by Steven Walker, Safety and set aside for the entire region.
Security Coordinator.
Current and Future Upgrades
Original Video Surveillance System
In 2009 ACE received about $500,000 to install a video
ACE initially installed surveillance equipment in 1999 in a surveillance system at six of its station platform areas and
number of stations, station platforms, shelters, and parking parking lots as well as in its Robert J. Cabral Station head-
facilities. ACE is one of the few agencies surveyed that uses quarters. About half the funds came from an FTA grant, the
onboard cameras in both passenger and operator/cab areas. rest was from California state funds derived from the pas-
At the time of the survey, between 80% and 90% of its heavy sage of Proposition 1B. This case study describes the steps
rail vehicles had onboard surveillance but only three stations involved in preparing a request for proposal (RFP) to design
(30%) were covered by video cameras. the system, selecting a vendor, and working with the other
rail agencies with which ACE shares jurisdiction at its sta-
ACE was able to expand its use of video surveillance in tions and along its ROW. It is an example of the timeframes
late 2005, when it awarded a contract to A4S Security to and issues involved in managing even a fairly small grant
install its ShiftWatch® Transportation Video Surveillance involving installation or enhancement of a video surveil-
system on its trains. The contract called for a minimum of lance system.
four cameras on each railcar to be set up so that passengers
would be recorded as they entered and exited the trains. The Rail Commission was notified in February 2009 that
This earlier installation of cameras was funded through an its request for funds had been approved. In late July, an RFP
$800,000 DHS grant that was part of a $7.1 million allo- to design the system was released; 21 firms responded to
cation for public transit in the Bay Area and San Joaquin the online solicitation, 9 eventually submitted proposals. An
County. The cameras were tied into a wireless Internet con- August 2009 pre-bid walk-though of the Cabral, Lathrop-
nection to make the images accessible to police. Additional Manteca, Tracy, Vasco, Livermore, and Pleasanton stations
enhancements included a GPS-type tracking system to per- was arranged. Ultimately, four of the nine teams were invited
mit ACE officials to monitor the location of each train and to the interview process. On October 2, 2009, the ACE Board
a radio system that would allow transit agencies to commu- approved the hiring of TRC Solutions, Inc., of Irvine, Cali-
nicate directly without having to filter their conversations fornia, to design the system. An RFP for the installation is
through local law enforcement agencies (Sherbert 2005). anticipated to be released during the third quarter of 2010
and ACE anticipates that the equipment will be operational
Although ACE had received several small grants since by the first quarter of 2011.
2007, there is a lag time between when the grant is awarded
and when the money becomes available. Also, the grant Although the system is not yet operable, planning for
"sunsets," meaning that it must be used within a certain it began even before receipt of the grant. One of the first
amount of time after it is received. The grant may be used decisions made by ACE was which of its stations to include
only for purchase and for the maintenance warrantee. For a in its grant proposal. Because ACE works with such a large
relatively small agency such as ACE, with no police force number of municipalities and has small safety and secu-
and only a small number of other specialists, an important rity staffs, a number of local cities, including Stockton,
factor in deciding whether to upgrade the surveillance net- Ripon, and Los Banos, were contacted to help research
work is the recurring cost of running it. what would work best in each area. Decisions included,
for instance, whether to purchase a wireless or a hard-
In addition to the difficulties that many transit agencies wired system. Recurring budget allocations and the qual-
face in being able to anticipate receiving funds from DHS, ity of the video images played a role in what technology
ACE is faced with additional question marks. It is the small- ACE decided on. The system was designed to be scalable
est rail agency in the DHS's Bay Area Regional Transit Secu- to work with fiber-optics in the future, which means that
rity Working Group Tier I area. Other bus, rail, and bus/rail the current system will provide all identified needs at an
systems in this area include two much larger transit systems, affordable price. However, ACE believes that when fiber-
BART and San Francisco's Municipal Railway; the Golden optics become available, its system will function at a sig-
Gate Bridge; Valley Transportation Authority; and Alameda nificantly lower cost. Finally, of the six stations selected,
County Transit. The request for funds by all these agencies three will receive surveillance enhancements and three
consistently exceeds the funds allocated to the region. The will be receiving video surveillance technology for the
allocation of funds within a region depends on a number of first time. ACE's original decision was based on stations
issues but because ACE has lower ridership than the larger where ACE had sole service, but Walker worked closely
systems and is not perceived to the same degree as the others with Amtrak, with which ACE shares Fremont Centerville
as a potential terrorism target, it rarely finds itself at the top and Santa Clara Great America stations.
