Video Surveillance Uses by Rail Transit Agencies (2011) / Chapter Skim
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Pages 12-25
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Mineta International Institute for Surface Transportation Policy Studies Institute (MTI) listed close to 4,000 events between January 1972 and August 2004 (Designing and Operating Safe and Secure Transit Systems 2005)
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VIDEO SURVEILLANCE AND RISK MANAGEMENT Although video surveillance technology is today most frequently discussed in the context of terrorism, a review of the history of the uses of surveillance systems in transit agencies points to its primary use as a risk management tool against fare evasion and as a defense against fraudulent claims, particularly for individuals alleging injury during accidents. Its use as a tool in crime prevention and detection, to allay patron fears that transit systems were unsafe, was secondary.
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The court sustained SEPTA's defense that the surveillance was not intrusive and violated no rights claimed by the plaintiff. In addition to saving lives, there has been considerable discussion along these lines as to the benefit of video surveillance at rail crossings to help to mitigate liability after crossing accidents, particularly in conjunction with tests to ensure that flashing lights and gates were operable.
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These new uses have been made possible by technology that permits more accurate identification of persons and objects than the earliest systems were capable of providing. Influence of Crime Prevention Theories The expansion of video surveillance from a risk management to a law enforcement tool was also influenced by the emerging theories of crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED)
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Elevators were also equipped with surveillance cameras. Relying on the police theory of the dual message of omnipresence, namely that a visible police officer sends a message to the ill-intentioned that there is a high probability of being caught in a criminal act and to the well-intentioned that the law enforcement presence provides security by deterring the ill-intentioned, WMATA's first police chief, Angus MacLean, said the cameras were purposely left visible to riders and to alert potential criminals that they were being monitored.
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. THE LONDON UNDERGROUND'S INFLUENCE ON TRANSIT SURVEILLANCE SYSTEMS To most North American transit managers, the transit system most closely associated with the introduction of video surveillance is the London Underground (LU)
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Unlike many countries in Europe where transit security is a national issue, but like the United States and Canada where planning tends to be localized, the Japanese government provides guidance to transit operators on security issues that are recommendations rather than regulations. In response to the attack, both the Tokyo Metro and the Toei Subway added patrols by both their own staffs and private security officers and installed more than 2,000 video surveillance cameras.
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Here, too, researchers have been reluctant to attribute the low crime rate on the railway solely to the cameras. The transit system is policed by a unit of the Royal Hong Kong Police Department.
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. Estimating the Number of Cameras Although video surveillance has proliferated as a law enforcement tool in the United States, its use is far more common throughout Europe and Asia.
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The second round of Transit-Secure funding, announced in 2007, included up to CAD$2 million to support risk assessments and comprehensive security planning by smaller communities that rely on bus rather than rail service. Transport Canada, Public Safety Canada, and local stakeholders have sponsored a number of emergency preparedness activities, particularly in the interjurisdictional areas that include Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal.
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Five stations are monitored by surveillance cameras and their images are observed by communications officers. These officers also answer emergency calls and dispatch the Transit Special Constables, who are supported by members of the Ottawa Police Service for problems they are not authorized or trained to handle.
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Similar to the synthesis case study involving Metro Transit in Minneapolis, Minnesota (see chapter five) , experiences in British Columbia reinforce that even a modern surveillance system requires frequent upgrading.
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Once order is re-established, visible video surveillance with appropriate signage indicating its presence and public address announcements reinforcing this signage can help assuring patrons that a certain level of safety, security, and orderliness has been established and will be maintained. Transit agencies' efforts to redesign stations to allay these fears and, particularly since September 11, 2001, to add video surveillance systems to public areas have addressed some but not all of these fears.
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23 are based on small samples or individual locations, the true effect video surveillance has on patron perception of security is difficult to determine. Despite this unanswered question, electronic video surveillance has come to predominate in crime and terrorist prevention efforts around the world.
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