Crime & Safety

MBTA to Add Thousands of Security Cameras, Including Inside Buses and Trains

The MBTA plans to double the number of cameras watching riders. Many riders say that's fine with them, but a civil liberties advocate urges caution.

At the lower bus way of busy , it's hard to find riders who are upset about the T's plans to double the number of security cameras.

Roslindale commuter Hector Serrano said there's balance between the safety the cameras are said to offer and the potential invasion of privacy.

"In life you have to give something to get something," he said under the watchful eyes of at least two overhead cameras.

Find out what's happening in Jamaica Plainwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The T plans to add thousands of cameras — they won't say exactly how many — via millions in federal grants, the Globe reports.

The new cameras will go in places they haven't been before, like inside buses and trains. One civil libertarian warns that the cameras haven't been proven to deter crime and that they come with a heavy cost of accepting a surveillance state.

Find out what's happening in Jamaica Plainwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

In a blog post on boston.com, Kade Crockford of the American Civil Liberties Union says the T has told us nearly nothing about how it plans to use the cameras.

Will it implement advanced biometrics, allowing agents to identify you and pull up your file with a simple click? Will it use advanced video tracking analytics that allow monitors to search thousands of cameras for spontaneous gatherings, perhaps a crew of people walking to a bar, or an impromptu protest? We simply don't know.

But moving through the crowd of residents waiting for a bus today at Forest Hills, people from nurses heading home to Hyde Park to young men on their way home to Dorchester after a basketball camp, no one said they were worried about the new cameras.

The T touts cameras as helping solve crimes like a . A suspect was found after his image was caught on security cameras and publicized.

The T clarified that it doesn't plan to put cameras on existing trains — they'll only install them on new subway cars that are purchased in the future.

[Editor's note: This story has been updated with a clarification about cameras in subway cars.]


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

To request removal of your name from an arrest report, submit these required items to arrestreports@patch.com.

More from Jamaica Plain