Problems with NYC Subway Cameras

MYFOXNY.COM - A deadly stabbing on the D-train was captured on a straphanger's a cell phone camera, but not the security cameras at the 53rd Street station.

A few months later, a mugger shot a man on the same D-train platform. And again, there was no security video. Why? The cameras don't work.

"Security cameras are a great idea if they are working properly," said Norman Seabrook, an MTA board member. "I think when you look at the security cameras throughout the system, some of them work, some of them don't and that's unacceptable. They should all be working."

The MTA has sunk $461 million in a massive subway security project; $200 million over budget. The money to get the high tech motion-sensor cameras working has run out.

New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli says the project "is taking too long, costing too much, and there is no end in sight."

Seabrook agrees.

"We spent a ton of money on this and we should hold the people hired to do this accountable until they are working," Seabrook says.

One reason the security camera system is off track and off budget? The contractor hired to do the work, Lockheed-Martin, quit and is suing the MTA.

"The MTA, as they have done with many contracts, have bungled this contract," TWU President John Samuelsen says. "The fact is the cameras are not working, most are not in good working order."

Lockheed claims the MTA refused to give the company access to critical subway tunnels.

The MTA says it is moving ahead with securing the subways, but continue to cut the number of station agents on the platforms.

"A waste of money, considering they are taking human beings out of the system and replacing them with broken TV cameras," Samuelsen says.

"That's very important," Seabrook says. "Cameras are fine, but they are not going to jump off the wall and help someone or call 911."