SEPTA blue line secures passengers with new cameras

By next year, SEPTA will have installed security cameras on the subway cars of the Market-Frankford line — also known as the blue line — as an extension of its “Smart Station” campaign, a project which will upgrade the infrastructure and technology of stations on the Market-Frankford, Broad Street and trolley lines.

Ten cameras will be installed on every Market-Frankford car — a project which will cost $3.3 million.

Cameras will be placed in fixed, visible locations on the ceilings of the cars to capture activity occurring in both seating areas and doorways.

“There wasn’t any one single motivating factor behind the camera installations, but a general desire to get updated technology,” SEPTA spokesman Andrew Busch said.

Busch added that the “timing was right,” as the cameras became increasingly affordable in recent years.

“It made sense to get all the stations and lines up to speed with the new technology when a lot of work was already being done to improve the system,” Busch said, referring to the Smart Station program.

According to Busch, the technology is meant to work hand in hand with the increased SEPTA police presence on the subways, which he said contributed to a significant decrease in assaults and robberies in the subway system from 2008 to 2009.

Some stations with cameras already in place have been integrated into the Philadelphia Police Department’s surveillance system as part of Smart Station.

“We do feel that having the cameras in place is a deterrent for crime,” Busch said. “We hope that it will reassure passengers as they travel.”

Mary Catherine Roper, a staff attorney with the Pennsylvania American Civil Liberties Union, questioned the effectiveness of the increase in camera surveillance.

“It’s kind of hard to understand why there is a craze to install more and more cameras,” Roper said. “The use of these kinds of systems doesn’t actually mean less crime, but it’s always terribly expensive.”

While Roper supported the deployment of more SEPTA police officers in the subway stations as being the “the kind of thing that reduces crime,” she did not believe cameras could achieve a similar effect.

“Government surveillance tends to expand beyond its original intended use,” Roper explained. “Millions of perfectly innocent people who have done nothing wrong may have to pay with their privacy to catch a few criminals.”

In response to concerns for passenger privacy, Busch said, “We are not looking to go beyond the scope of what this is intended to do. Our goal is to make the system safe and secure.”

Vice President for Public Safety Maureen Rush expressed an interest in collaborating with SEPTA police to have SEPTA cameras integrated into the Division of Public Safety’s security system.

“We are planning on working with SEPTA police to share cameras to not only ensure a safe environment for those above ground, but below in the stations as well,” Rush said.

“We try to keep an eye on the different travel patterns of students for their safety, as they do form a good segment of our ridership,” Busch said.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.