Metro adds more cameras looking outward
By: Kytja Weir
May 12, 2009
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| Metro has installed 20 new external surveillance cameras at stops in D.C. and Fairfax, including the Rhode Island Avenue-Brentwood station, pictured here. (Photo courtesy wmata.com) |
Metro has added 20 new surveillance cameras to rail stations, but now the eyes are trained on areas outside the stations.
Eye in the sky
Metrorail stations with new exterior cameras:
D.C.
» Rhode Island Avenue-Brentwood
» Congress Heights
» Deanwood
» Minnesota Avenue
» Fort Totten
» Takoma
» Brookland-CUA
» Columbia Heights
» Georgia Avenue-Petworth
» Tenleytown-American University
Fairfax
» Franconia-Springfield
» Vienna/Fairfax-GMU
The transit agency said Monday it has added cameras to the exterior of a dozen stations to reduce crime inside and outside of the rail system.
But only the District and Fairfax County are adding the cameras to the stations ranked as having the highest crime, although Metro staff pinpointed stations around the region that could use extra camera surveillance.
“It comes down to a funding issue,” said Metro spokeswoman Cathy Asato.
Buying and installing the cameras cost $275,000, with the District paying $200,000 and Fairfax County picking up $75,000. Metro will pay for their upkeep, which the agency estimated would cost about $5,000 a year.
The system already has more than 4,500 surveillance cameras. All 86 Metrorail stations have cameras on rail platforms and fare gate areas that station managers and transit police can monitor. A handful of garages and parking lots have them, Asato said. And the agency is trying to put cameras in more buses.
But the transit agency doesn’t have many cameras looking outward. The first exterior camera was installed at the U Street Metrorail station in 2006, Asato said. Others have been added to the Anacostia station as well.
Transit police presented a report to the agency’s board in July identifying the 10 stations in Maryland, the District and Virginia with the most crime and a need for more security.
The report was delivered during Metro’s worst crime year in at least six years, with transit police investigating an average of five serious crimes a day.
The District has paid for cameras at all 10 stations on Metro’s list. Fairfax County is paying for cameras for the two stations in Virginia with the most crime. The transit agency began installing the cameras in March.
Maryland is not adding cameras to any of its “top 10” offenders, although the latest crime statistics available by station showed its stations as having the highest vehicle crime systemwide.
Metro board member Peter Benjamin, who represents Maryland, said suburban stations didn’t have the same crime around them as urban areas. “There are very few of them where there are issues outside of Metro,” he said. “It makes more sense in D.C.”
The most serious crimes occur at the entrances and exits of parking areas, according to Metro’s crime statistics.
But Maryland decided to hold out, Benjamin said. “We figured we’d let someone else try it to see if there’s a benefit.”
