Here is the news release from Metro:
METRO RAMPING UP SECURITY THROUGH THE THREE Es: ENGINEERING, EDUCATION AND ENFORCEMENT
SkyWatch towers will be “eyes in the sky” to step up enforcement
To further enhance safety and security on the transit system, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) today announced acquisition of three significant technologies that will be deployed countywide in the coming weeks.
One of the most innovative technologies is LexRay Systems that allows Sheriff’s deputies and other law enforcement officials to immediately access real-time imaging from Metro’s extensive system of CCTV cameras to a smartphone. This allows first responders to see inside the bus or train car that is in need of assistance.
“Metro has been investigating practical technologies that can help enhance the safety and security of the riding public and our employees,” said Metro Chair and Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas.
To augment CCTV coverage, especially near parking lots at Metro Rail and Orange Line stations, Metro will begin deploying SkyWatch security towers as mobile “eyes in the sky.” SkyWatch towers are elevated and movable systems that use real time and remote video surveillance to multiply remote security presence. Metro received a grant to purchase four SkyWatch towers and their deployment will begin in late September.
Security kiosks will also be installed in nine subway plazas at high volume rail stations, enabling sheriff’s deputies and other security personnel to access computers and other law enforcement tools where they have not been available beforehand.
These technologies follow only a few months after Metro introduced the installation of polycarbonate barriers on buses to protect operators from assaults, and the deployment of CCTV monitors on buses to help reduce assaults and other crimes on buses.
“Since last March, Metro has been moving forward with the purchase of security barriers and video monitors on all new buses,” said Metro CEO Phillip A. Washington. “To those who are inclined to commit crimes on our system: we will be watching you and are ramping up enforcement to catch you.”
Metro will also be increasing its education to the traveling public empowering them to be an extension of Metro’s eyes and ears on the system.
The rate of serious crime on Metro’s system is four per one million boardings. On an average workday, Metro has about 1.4 million bus and rail boardings. If compared to a comparably sized city, the Metro system would be the safest city in the nation.
Stay informed by following Metro on The Source and El Pasajero at metro.net, facebook.com/losangelesmetro,twitter.com/metrolosangeles and twitter.com/metroLAalerts and instagram.com/metrolosangeles.
Categories: Policy & Funding, Projects
“Metro will also be increasing its education to the traveling public empowering them to be an extension of Metro’s eyes and ears on the system.”
And as everyday goes by, America, once the land of the free, becomes more like totalitarian police state regimes like Nazi Germany and Communist Soviet Union.
http://i.imgur.com/QVJpkJ3.jpg http://i.imgur.com/UC80s63.jpg
Hi Sad American;
I think that’s a ridiculous comparison. But it’s the kind of thing an anonymous person can easily shout on the internet.
Steve Hymon
Editor, The Source
Steve,
You should open your eyes more by Googling “America police state.”
You’d be surprised that many Americans across all spectrums of life, liberals, moderates, and conservatives are all getting sick and tired of what America today has become.
You as a journalist should be well informed on this matter.
Welcome to the ever increasing police state, where the government has the right to invade your privacy, all in the name of public safety.
It is time where we should all take a step back and remember the words of Benjamin Frankiln “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”
“To those who are inclined to commit crimes on our system: we will be watching you and are ramping up enforcement to catch you.”
On Monday afternoon at 4:40 PM a guy was smoking a joint in the Pershing Square Metro Station, right out in the open in the middle of the platform. Nice job.
This morning at approximately 10 am, I was exiting Pershing Square station and saw two homeless people at the bottom of the escalators divvying up a motley collection of stolen cell phones. Again, my compliments on your keen powers of observation.
However today, you did manage to catch me committing the unforgivable crime of not having the latest registration sticker on my license plate while I was parked in a station parking lot.
We can all sleep better now that the real criminals are being dealt with appropriately.
This is the world we live in today:
1. A person smoking pot on a platform can be construed as taking medication so that’s okay
2. Going after homeless people selling stolen cell phones isn’t much of a revenue maker for the city. You can’t fine homeless people as they have no money and our jails are overcrowded so petty theft is looked the other way; you can thank CA voters for that from passing Prop 47 last year (theft under $950 is petty theft and now has reduced criminal charges)
3. OTOH, if someone were to do a heinous crime such as drinking bottled water on a hot and humid summer afternoon, then it’s against Metro’s policy of no drinking then the cops come after you.
4. If the Girl Scouts starts selling cookies or some kids start selling lemonade on a public area, the cops come after them because they don’t have the proper business license or county health certificates.
You vote Democrats, you get stupid laws like these.
“One of the most innovative technologies is LexRay Systems that allows Sheriff’s deputies and other law enforcement officials to immediately access real-time imaging from Metro’s extensive system of CCTV cameras to a smartphone. This allows first responders to see inside the bus or train car that is in need of assistance.”
Umm, wait a second here.
You’re practically admitting we have the wireless technology available today to live-stream megabits/sec of raw CCTV video inside a bus to law enforcement miles away, but yet you cannot figure out a way to process TAP card updates to the bus without a 48 hour wait, let alone do tap-on/tap-off fare systems because you’re still checking up on 3G technology?
“To those who are inclined to commit crimes on our system: we will be watching you and are ramping up enforcement to catch you.”
And perhaps you should do some fact checking before spending our tax dollars that recent studies show that criminals aren’t deterred by security cameras. Obviously, because criminals break the law, no matter what law or cameras are placed, that’s why they’re called criminals.
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/03/study-questions-whether-cameras-cut-crime/?_r=0
“Do surveillance cameras deter criminals?
A recently published statistical study out of New York University says they do not deter it much, if at all, based on five years of evidence from Peter Cooper Village and Stuyvesant Town in Manhattan.”