Montgomery County is seeking $1 million in grant money to install surveillance cameras in the Glenmont and Wheaton Metro station parking garages.
“We believe all Metro garages should have surveillance cameras,” said Gary Erenrich, special assistant to the director of Montgomery County Department of Public Works and Transportation. “They act as a deterrent for some crimes and give an additional sense of security to the public. They are becoming a new standard for Metro garages.”
There have been seven robberies, five narcotics offenses, three auto thefts, three destruction of property cases and four simple assaults in the Wheaton Metro station in 2007, according to data provided by WMATA.
The county has filed a request with the Maryland Transit Administration for funding to install the cameras, said Erenrich.
It will be weeks before the outcome of the request is known, but the county wants $800,000 in federal funds, which the county would partially match with $200,000 of its own money.
Wheaton business owners are concerned crime in the Metro parking facilities could discourage customers from shopping in the areas. They discussed a need for increased safety at the facilities during a recent meeting.
“For the businesses of Wheaton, if something happens in the Metro garage, it’s not good,” said Joe Callaway, chief of operations for the Wheaton Urban District. “The incident makes the papers as ‘something bad happened in Wheaton,’ and it’s bad for them because it’s a mark on Wheaton and they want a good safe experience for the people who come here.”
There are a number of Metro stations that already have cameras monitoring their parking facilities, said Steven Taubenkibel, a spokesman for WMATA. Those stops include Grovesnor, Shady Grove North Garage, White Flint, Wheaton, New Carrollton, Largo Town Center, Addison Road, Suitland, College Park, Vienna and Franconia-Springfield.
