A Maximalist Take on CCTV — More is Always More in New York City
In this post, Julia Rootenberg reflects on the increased presence of CCTV in New York City subways and its broader implications for the formal and informal regulation of space.
On March 6th, 2024, news flooded the internet that National Guard soldiers had been deployed in subway stations across New York City. Dressed in uniform and carrying guns, their presence was disconcerting and out of place in the underground web of transportation that gets millions of New Yorkers and visitors where they need to go. However, after some initial confusion, this was soon revealed to be part and parcel of New York State Governor Kathy Hochul’s ‘five-point plan’ to increase safety in the city’s subways. That same day, Hochul made a live televised appearance to outline her plan alongside a self-proclaimed leadership team. Flanked on either side by Janno Lieber, head of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), Thomas Taffe, Chief of Operations of the MTA Police Department, Major General Ray Shields, Commander of the New York Army National Guard, and Steven James, Superintendent of the New York State Police, Hochul emphasized a collaborative approach in targeting acts of violence against straphangers and MTA personnel alike.
Hochul later tweeted from her official X account, summarizing the main action points of her plan:
While each of these five points warrant critical analysis, it is point three that drew my attention in particular. Upon first glance, the idea that ‘more security cameras’ will be added to New York City subway stations is, perhaps, innocuous. It is also definitively in line with the surveillant assemblage that lies at the core of worldwide crime prevention strategies. Closed-circuit televisions (CCTV), also known as security cameras, have long been used as a mechanism for criminal deterrence in both private and public spaces (albeit with varying degrees of success). Police departments often make use of the footage collected from security cameras to identify victims and suspects, and the New York Police Department regularly posts video clips and stills from such footage to one of their official X accounts, @NYPDNews, both to increase the visibility of open cases and gather information from members of the public.
However, while the merits of using CCTV footage as a crime-solving tool are certainly relevant, they fail to address what I see as the global turn towards a ‘more is more’ approach of using surveillance technology in public transit. Here, I question the necessity and effectiveness of Governor Hochul’s decision to add even more cameras to an already heavily-surveilled subway system. As NYC transit President Richard Davey quipped at an MTA news conference in September 2023, “We have more cameras than a Las Vegas casino.”
Violence Begets Cameras
As with any policy or legislative change, we must look at point three of Hochul’s plan within the sociopolitical context it was made. In the weeks and months leading up to the National Guard’s deployment on March 6th, a spate of violent crimes in subway cars and stations garnered extensive press coverage. But, headlines have painted the subway as a lawless land rife with unprovoked attacks for years, catalyzed in large part by the pandemic and ensuing homelessness and mental health crises. As such, increased surveillance in the subway system saw a significant turning point in September 2021, when the MTA announced that thousands of security cameras had been installed in all of New York City’s 472 subway stations. This initiative was spearheaded by then-Interim President of NYC Transit, Sarah Feinberg, who accelerated the camera installation program when she found that a certain type of camera could be installed more quickly and cheaply than standard cameras.
Shortly thereafter, in February 2022, New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced phase one of a two-phase Subway Safety Plan, which sought to target, amongst other things, homelessness, mental health, and holistic support. While the Subway Safety Plan did not explicitly include the implementation of more security cameras, during the summer of 2022 the MTA also rolled out a pilot program which installed 200 cameras inside 100 subway cars. Then, in September 2022, the MTA hit the proverbial jackpot when it received a $2 million federal grant to install cameras inside the entire 6,355 car fleet of New York City subway cars by ‘sometime in 2025’. Provided by the Urban Area Security Initiative under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Preparedness Grants, the funding would start by placing two cameras per car in 2,700 subway cars for a grand total of 5,400 cameras. Further, the grant covered the costs of placing an additional 3,800 cameras in 130 subway stations (stations which were completely outfitted back in 2021 under Sarah Feinberg’s time and cost-saving initiative). Bearing these numbers in mind, it’s evident that the subways are already extensively monitored across all five boroughs and from many angles.
How, then, does the ‘more is more’ approach to add security cameras as presented by point three of Governor Hochul’s plan hold water? Apparently, the necessity lies in adding cameras directed at and inside the conductor cabins. During her appearance on March 6th, Hochul cited the February 29th attack of subway conductor Alton Scott, who was slashed in the neck when he stuck his head out of the cabin window to do a routine safety check. As she hypothesized, “If a camera had been positioned on Alton Scott’s conductor cabin…we probably would have already apprehended the person who slashed his neck or maybe they wouldn’t have done it at all if they knew there were cameras watching their every move.” This kind of conjecture, while unsurprising coming from a seasoned politician, does little to actually move the needle and essentializes the attack on Mr. Scott as a simple justification for more surveillance, which is rarely so simple.
Watchful Eyes Worldwide
Let me be perfectly clear: the violence against Alton Scott and others that has occurred in the New York City subway system is categorically unacceptable and demands consequence. But, I ask, when does the surveillant gaze truly ever see enough? While we can look to transit crime data (albeit with scrutiny) as one potential measure of the impact of surveillance strategies, we must also acknowledge the political grandstanding that leads to policies like Governor Hochul’s. Governor Hochul and Mayor Adams have assumed a zero-tolerance posture in order to assuage fear and show that they’re doing ‘something’. As a result, more New Yorkers than ever are being watched as they navigate through the city that never sleeps.
As a born and bred New Yorker myself, I am particularly attuned to the issues of the city that raised me. But, this is merely one microcosmic example of a trend that can be seen not just in urban transit across the United States, but the world. From October 2022 to September 2023, Transport for London (TfL), which operates the city’s Tube and bus system, tested a combination of AI surveillance software and live CCTV footage on thousands of people to try and identify criminal activity and unsafe situations in the London Underground. It seems that the double-edged sword of increased surveillance in public transportation is not going anywhere anytime soon. For now, you can assume you’re being watched on your morning commute, so say “cheese”.
