MBTA security cameras installed in T stations

Hundreds of security cameras will keep a close eye on T commuters this fall, a security push that Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority officials said will help transit police identify criminal suspects.

The MBTA recently finished installing “hundreds of cameras throughout the system,” said Joshua Robin, the MBTA’s director of innovation and special projects.

The latest installation is an addition to MBTA security cameras already in use throughout the T system.

“They’re being used on a regular basis for a number of activities,” Robin said. “They help to keep the system safer and help the transit police keep a better watch.”

Robin said the cameras will be used exclusively for safety purposes.

“The goal of the cameras is to improve safety and security, not fare evasion,” he said.

Fining people for fare evasion has to be done exclusively on the site of the evasion as it happens, said MBTA Transit Police Chief Paul MacMillan.

“What we do use [the cameras] for is criminal conduct, mainly felonies,” MacMillan said. “We try to ID suspects that commit crimes on the MBTA.”

These crimes include assault, battery and other serious offenses, he said.

“When we have an incident, we will go look at video to see if we can ID the suspect through video,” MacMillan said. “We might not always catch the person using the camera system, but we will always look to see if the suspect is on the cameras.”

The cameras have proved to be another tool for the transit police to identify suspects, MacMillan said.

“It’s a very valuable tool,” he said, “but just a tool to use from time to time.”

MacMillan said all the busiest stations already contain cameras, but places such as outlier commuter rail stations do not.

The current cameras are partially located at the busiest stations and are primarily located at fare gates and fare vending machines, he said.

In light of recent fare hikes, Hingham resident Noelle Rhodes said the cameras are addressing “a legitimate concern.”

“I feel like they are putting them in to make sure people pay the fare and don’t jump the stalls,” she said.

Boston Police Officer Joseph Coppinger said increased surveillance would be helpful for investigations.

The increased surveillance will be especially useful for “multiple robberies or crimes,” he said.

Coppinger said police previously dealt with the case of a groper, a man who came onto T trains and sexually assaulted female passengers.

An MBTA camera captured an image of his face and broadcasted it on the local news, he said.

“The next time he stepped on a Green Line train, somebody called 911,” Coppinger said.

Barbara Lynch, a resident of Newton, said the increased camera surveillance is a good thing, especially for people traveling on the T alone at night.

However, she said the MBTA could have put their money to a better use.

“On air conditioning, maybe,” Lynch said. “You stand there and wait and wait, and it’s just so hot.”

Lynch said signs should be posted around the stations indicating that there are cameras in place to deter people from committing crimes.