T puts new security cameras on buses
Routes in high-crime areas are targeted first
Security cameras have been put on buses that run through high-crime areas of Boston, including the route where a Hyde Park teenager was fatally shot last week, officials announced yesterday.
The cameras -- five on each bus recording everything that happens -- will also allow T police to follow buses in patrol cars and see inside them through a "live look-in" link with a laptop computer if they stay within 300 feet.
The first 10 buses on which the cameras are being tested are on six key routes in Roxbury, Dorchester, and Mattapan.
"Especially on the Route 23 bus where we had the tragic incident last week, I want those citizens to especially feel a sense of increased security and safety," said MBTA Transit Police Chief Joseph C. Carter.
The other routes with camera-equipped buses are 15, 22, 28, 44 and 45. T police have also stepped up patrols of Route 23 and other routes in high-crime areas.
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority board agreed yesterday to spend $1.4 million to put the surveillance cameras on a total of 155 new buses, 69 in Boston and the remainder to be delivered by July 31.
Each of those buses will have eight cameras inside and outside that will be able to store up to 100 hours of footage, allowing the T police to quickly distribute pictures and footage of potential suspects. The cameras can also be used to investigate accidents or attacks on bus drivers.
Stephen G. MacDougall, president of the 6,000-member Boston Carmen's Union, expressed concern at the board meeting that the surveillance cameras would be used "as a club against the workforce" by monitoring employee behavior.
T spokesman Joe Pesaturo said that none of the cameras will be pointed at bus drivers and that passenger safety is the camera system's main purpose.
But Donna Dear , a member of the T Riders Union, said she doesn't believe the cameras will stop criminals.
"If they're out to kill, they're going to do it anyway," she said. "Bank robbers aren't deterred by cameras, so people who are going to shoot people aren't going to be either. . . . People are still going to do what they do anyway."
The bus surveillance system was first proposed last year after the July 2005 London bus bombings, but took on increased urgency after the fatal shooting a week ago of Dwayne Graham on a T bus.
Carter said it extends the digital security cameras placed throughout the subway system, which officials have credited with deterring or solving crimes.
During his presentation to the board, Carter used examples of how the cameras were used to solve a recent stabbing at Back Bay station, a sexual assault at Porter Square, and a robbery at JFK/UMass.
He also said the number of felony offenses on the T had dropped from 1,009 in 2005 to 972 in 2006.
Mac Daniel can be reached at mdaniel@globe.com. 
