Thursday, 4:30 PM
MBTA board votes to put surveillance cameras on 155 buses
By Mac Daniel, Globe Staff
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority board voted unanimously this afternoon to spend $1.4 million to buy and install surveillance cameras on 155 new buses.
Each bus will be outfitted with eight cameras that will store up to 100 hours of footage on computer hard drives. The program will include a look-in feature that will allow MBTA police to use a laptop to monitor what is happening on a particular bus in real time, as incidents are unfolding.
The surveillance cameras were first proposed last year but took on increased urgency after the fatal shooting last weekend of Dwayne Graham, 18, of Hyde Park, on a city bus.
The program will start with 10 buses that will be outfitted with the camera systems as part of a review and assessment program, said Chief Joseph C. Carter of the transit police. Those buses will be deployed to routes in Dorchester, Mattapan, and Roxbury to "provide a strong sense of security for our customers," Carter said.
Stephan G. MacDougall, the president of the 6,000-member carmen's union, expressed concern at the board meeting today that the surveillance cameras would be used "as tools against the workforce" to monitor MBTA employees.
