BART says it will install new surveillance cameras on its trains in the wake of a fatal shooting earlier this month that exposed the fact that most of the devices on its cars are actually decoys.
"We just want to make sure everyone knows that we are already working on it and the decision’s been made," BART spokeswoman Alicia Trost said Wednesday. "We’re very committed to installing working cameras in every train car."
The use of fake cameras came to light following a Jan. 9 attack in which one passenger shot and killed another aboard a train at West Oakland Station. BART police later released pictures of a suspect exiting through the station's fare gates, but conceded that there was no video from the train car.
Each of BART's hundreds of cars is outfitted with units that appear to be cameras, complete with a red light that suggests the units are operational. But very few of the devices, placed at each end of the car, are real.
BART's police chief, Kenton Rainey, defended the use of the decoys after the West Oakland shooting and said the fact the agency captured images of the suspect showed the system's surveillance measures work. Agency officials also said that its "fleet of the future," a new generation of train cars to replace the four-decade-old cars now in use, would be equipped with functioning security cameras.