Are There Cameras In Subway Cars

Coach stations and subways in America are blanketed by security cameras. Simply New York'south transit agency was warned multiple times in the by five years that merely having the cameras isn't enough.

The problem became evident Tuesday after a gunman opened burn down on a Brooklyn subway railroad train during rush hour — and remained at large a twenty-four hour period later. The manhunt has been hampered by what Mayor Eric Adams called an apparent "malfunction" with the security cameras at the station. None of the cameras that could have caught the incident were working at the time.

In a pair of inspections from 2018 and 2019 reviewed past CBS News, state officials warned New York City'due south Metropolitan Transportation Authority that its subway system'southward security cameras were at take a chance of malfunctions. They found that the MTA failed to ensure preventative maintenance and timely repairs on thousands of the cameras.

The MTA said it was taking "aggressive" steps.

In an interview Wed on "CBS Mornings," MTA CEO Janno Lieber said crews had been working on an apparent "server problem" with at least one of the cameras near a turnstile at the station.

"Merely the bigger effect is there's so much video evidence from all of the stations on this line that there are images that are going to be constitute," he said, pointing out that the "enormous range" of bachelor security footage includes videos from well-nigh two,500 cameras on the subway line where the shooting took place.

MTA CEO Janno Lieber responds to cleaved security cameras during Brooklyn subway shooting 04:00

Ten of the victims in Tuesday's set on suffered gunshot wounds while 13 were treated for other injuries, including smoke inhalation from a smoke bomb that the shooter tossed during the assault, authorities said. Law have identified Frank James, of Philadelphia, as a suspect in the case.

Former FBI agent Mike German said he was non surprised to hear that cameras failed during the incident.

"Information technology's very easy after an issue that'due south horrifying and scary to the public for policymakers to accomplish for that silverish bullet solution, 'Nosotros'll put cameras in all of the subway stations,' but that initial expense doesn't necessarily provide or explain all of the resources that will have to become into that kind of surveillance," he told CBS News congressional correspondent Scott Macfarlane.

German language said cameras are a claiming for many U.S. transit systems because they require regular and sophisticated maintenance.

Congressional sources tell CBS News a group of dozens of U.Due south. Firm members were already getting prepare to asking millions of dollars afterwards this month to pay for cameras and other types of security equipment, "harder infrastructure" and surveillance training to forestall attacks at U.S. rail stations.

Rep. Abigail Spanberger, a Virginia Democrat and former CIA agent, said equipment alone won't stop a threat.

"Maintenance is of import. If in that location'due south cameras, where is that video uploaded? Where is it stored? Who is reviewing it?" she said. "When we're looking at security investments, they do require maintenance and they do require connected investment."

Last year, the MTA announced it had cleared a milestone by installing security cameras in all 472 subway stations in the city.

Lieber said New Yorkers should feel safety taking the subway.

"New Yorkers but keep bouncing dorsum, and the subway is the material of New York," he said, noting that the urban center recovered from tragedies similar nine/11 and Superstorm Sandy. "Nobody is going to give up our public space that defines New York, that makes New York possible. That's what the subway is."