D.C. likely to require cameras at gas stations
By: Michael Neibauer
Examiner Staff Writer
July 1, 2009
D.C. Councilwoman Yvette Alexander was victimized at a gas station, and now all District service station owners appear likely to have to pay.
The council on Tuesday gave preliminary unanimous approval to a bill requiring that retail service station operators install video surveillance within six months to monitor all pumps. Another vote is needed before the legislation becomes law.
The measure also mandates the posting of signs at each pump reminding customers that the premises are under surveillance, and warning them to remove their keys from the vehicle and to lock their doors. And it requires the Metropolitan Police Department to produce a public service announcement “warning consumers of the potential dangers at retail service stations,” to be run on Channel 16.
“Taken together the hope is the bill will lead to fewer crimes, more arrests and enhanced safety at gas stations,” said Ward 4 Councilwoman Muriel Bowser, chairwoman of the Public Services and Consumer Affairs Committee.
Alexander, of Ward 7, first introduced the legislation in October 2007, about three months after her purse was stolen from her Range Rover while it was parked at a Southeast gas station. At the time, she described gas station crime as a “great threat” to public safety.
Between 2006 and 2007, Bowser said Tuesday, the number of thefts from autos reported at city gas stations soared from 89 to 427, a 380 percent increase. When she first introduced the bill, Alexander said there were 632 crimes committed at gas stations over the previous year, including 182 in her ward.
Brian Wood, a sales associate at camerasecuritynow.com, said gas station owners could invest in something as inexpensive as a $300 digital video recorder and $100 cameras, or as costly as a computer-based DVR with four fixed cameras for $2,500.
Paul Fiore, director of government affairs with the Washington, Maryland, Delaware Service Station and Automotive Repair Association, said most service stations already had cameras — or that they should given how many people try to steal gas. The association is not opposing the measure even if it is costly: A “decent” system, Fiore said, can cost upward of $10,000.
“It’s got to be viewed as the cost of doing business,” he said.
