Watch Out: Surveillance Cameras Coming to New York Subway Cars

Will increased surveillance increase the safety of passengers? It's highly unlikely...

New York Subway

New York City is preparing to inch a step closer to the scenario of 1984, with plans to install surveillance cameras in every subway car by 2025.

According to Gov. Kathy Hochul, the move aims to increase riders’ confidence in subway safety and follows several highly publicized crimes that have occurred in the transit system — including the rape of a tourist on a subway platform this month; a mass shooting on a subway car in Brooklyn in April; and the fatal shooting of a Goldman Sachs employee on a train in May.

Privacy advocates don’t like the idea — arguing that the increased level of surveillance of New Yorkers won’t necessarily make the subway safer. After all, subway stations in the city already have surveillance cameras.

“It’s awful. This just seems like a terrible surveillance PR stunt just to boost ridership,” said Albert Fox Cahn, the founder and executive director of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (STOP), a nonprofit aimed at reigning in digital surveillance in New York.

“We have no idea how they would be sharing the data with federal and out-of-state partners,” Fox Cahn said.

The MTA spokesperson clarified that the subway car footage will be stored on a memory card on each camera but will be available to any local, state or federal law enforcement agency for solving crimes. The MTA is still developing its procurement plan for which camera manufacturer it will use.

Hochul was quick to downplay privacy concerns.

“You think Big Brother’s watching you on the subways? You’re absolutely right. That is our intent, to get the message out that we are going to be having surveillance of activities on the subway trains and that is going to give people great peace of mind,” she said. “And if you’re concerned about this, the best answer is don’t commit any crimes on the subways. Then you won’t have any problems.”

For what it matters, several other transit systems in the U.S. already use surveillance cameras, including the San Francisco Bay Area’s BART and Washington Metro in D.C. Because of its size, New York’s project will be the largest such initiative in the country, with two cameras installed in all 6,455 MTA train cars at the cost of $5.5 million. It will be funded by the state of New York and the Department of Homeland Security.

“This is all about safety, the safety of our riders, and letting would-be criminals know that should you harm any other passenger in any way, you will be observed, you’ll be caught, and you’ll be prosecuted,” Hochul concluded.

Janno Lieber, who is the chair of the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority and who joined Hochul at the announcement, told reporters that subway crime was already down almost 9% this year compared to the same period in 2019.

So one has to ask – are those extra privacy-invading cameras really needed? You be the judge.