Crime rates in the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority system have reached their lowest numbers in the 30 years since officials began keeping statistics, the MBTA Transit Police said.
Last year the number of assaults and robberies in the transportation system dropped from the year before, and there were no homicides committed at all. Overall, the crime rate dropped 21 percent from 2008.
The decrease in crime can be attributed to video surveillance, public awareness campaigns and a crackdown on people who do not pay their fare, Transit Police Chief Paul MacMillan told The Daily Free Press.
Although the number of officers has not increased over the past couple of years, MacMillan said the MBTA Transit police have been working on their closed-circuit television system.
‘We now have 800 cameras in our CCTV system,’ he said. ‘It has been extremely helpful in identifying offenders and prosecuting them in court.’
MacMillan also said the improvements were result of the close relationship between the MBTA Transit Police and the city of Boston. ‘We work closely with the Boston Police Department, our employees and the community,’ he said.
This low crime rate comes at a time when MBTA attendance is at nearly record numbers, with about 1.2 million people using the system’s trolleys, buses and subway trains every weekday, MacMillan said.
MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo said the organization has also placed an emphasis on improving the mechanical performance of MBTA vehicles after a Nov. 3 independent review by The Boston Globe pointed out technical failures on the T.
‘Like every major transit agency in the world, the T experiences mechanical problems from time to time,’ Pesaturo said in an email. ‘We continue to work hard to minimize such problems.’
‘We’ve stepped up preventive maintenance efforts,’ he said. ‘Subway managers have also increased monitoring of the performance of vehicles and equipment in order to keep the system operating at optimum levels.’
MacMillan said MBTA patrons could access crime statistics. The number and types of crimes committed at each T stop are viewable on an interactive map at http://crimestats.mbtapolice.com.
Boston University students were not surprised by the announcement,and many said they feel perfectly safe riding the T regularly.
‘I’ve never really been scared on the T. You just take it to get from point A to point B and nothing really crazy happens in between,’ said Amanda Zuazua, a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences. ‘In New York you have to watch your bags. And that’s a good idea, but I don’t really feel like I have to do that here.’
College of General Studies freshman Cynthia Rodriguez said she feels some T lines are safer than others, but none seem overtly dangerous.
‘I feel like it depends where you are going,’ Rodriguez said. ‘Around campus it’s a lot safer than on some other lines because it is a different crowd. Here you are surrounded by students and professors. Downtown it’s a lot busier and you definitely have to be more aware of your surroundings. But I still think it’s fine.’
Metropolitan College senior Anna Barin said even though she feels safe riding the T, safety could be improved further.
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‘I feel pretty safe, even riding home late at night, because there are usually quite a few people around,’ Marin said. ‘Some of the stations aren’t very well lit, but other than that I don’t feel particularly unsafe.’
MET senior Andrew McCarthy said crime should be expected in any large city, but Boston does not have a particular problem with safety.
‘I grew up in Boston, so I’ve been riding the T my whole life, and I’ve never had a problem,’ he said. ‘But it is a major city, so if there’s crime, there’s crime. That’s a hard thing to control.’
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