Straphangers beware: Big Brother is watching you.
Surveillance cameras have been quietly placed in three subway cars -- with more expected to follow -- as part of a Transit Authority anti-crime experiment.
Some riders and transit workers applaud their arrival. Others blast it as an invasion of privacy.
"I'm all for safety, but I'm not for people being monitored without their knowledge," said Eileen McMeekin, as she waited recently for a train at the 96th Street-Broadway station.
Only one of the cameras is conspicuous: It's a foot long and bolted to the ceiling of a subway car. The others are deliberately hidden.
Brooklyn native David Willchik, 62, is glad they're there.
"I think it's great. It will help [cut] the crime rate," he predicted. "The subways used to be safe when I was a boy, and then it changed."
Police hope to use the cameras to identify and catch people who commit crimes, said Carol Florio, the TA's senior director of facilities planning and car appearance.
The cars under surveillance are inspected daily for signs of vandalism and the tapes are viewed by police, she said.
"So far nobody's done anything in front of the cameras," she said.
"We are conducting the test to see if this kind of a setup would be of any assistance in preventing, not only window scratching, but any kind of crime," she noted.
The six-month trial, being conducted on No.2 and No. 5 trains, began in January.
The TA is using cameras provided by three vendors, each of whom hopes to land a contract to monitor the 3.87 million passengers who ride the TA's 6,300-car system daily.
Lt. Steven Donahoo of the NYPD Transit Bureau, which reviews the surveillance tapes, declined to comment on the use of the cameras and whether they will be moved around during the trial.
"We don't want people to know about it. It's only a pilot program right now, so that would be a little premature," he said.
Surveillance cameras are increasingly being used to combat crime. They have been installed in public housing projects, parks and along roads.
Their use on the subway was welcomed by the lawyer for a 20-year-old Queens mom who was robbed at gunpoint earlier this month while riding the J train with her 2-year-old daughter.
"I applaud their efforts, But I'm sorry to say that it's too little too late," said Steven Gilder, who has filed a negligence suit against the TA on behalf of the woman.
But for some, a safer subway system isn't reason enough to install cameras.
"Any camera in a public space is a clear violation of the First, Fourth, and Fifth Amendments," said Bill Brown, a member of the Surveillance Camera Players, an activist group that protests video surveillance by staging plays in front of cameras in public spaces.
"They have a chilling effect on free speech and violate rules of unreasonable search and seizure and being compelled to give evidence against yourself," he said.
The cameras are also "potentially troubling" to the Straphangers Campaign, an advocacy group for riders.
In a statement, staff lawyer Gene Russianoff questioned who would monitor the cameras and how a suspect would be pursued if captured on tape committing a crime."
Big Brother is watching New York City subways.
While some riders and transit workers applaud the quiet arrival of surveillance cameras inside subway cars, others call it just another reminder of Mayor Giuliani's Orwellian streak.
"It's a little too Big Brother," said Eileen McMeekin as she waited for a subway at 96th Street and Broadway. "I'm all for safety, but I'm not for people being monitored without their knowledge."
Some of the cameras are conspicuous. Foot-long cameras bolted along the ceiling on the No. 2 train are hard to miss. But others are deliberately hidden from view.
In either case, Brooklyn native David Willchik, 62, is glad they're there. "I think it's great. It will help the crime rate," he said, adding, "The subways used to be safe when I was a boy, and then it changed."
The idea is to try to catch criminals in the act, said Carol Florio, senior director of facilities planning and car appearance at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The six-month trial on a handful of subway cars along the No. 2 and No. 5 lines began in January.
In the pilot program, the MTA is using different types of cameras provided by several vendors hoping to get a major city contract down the road.
Some have signs announcing that they're there, Florio said. "We live in a city of extremely creative people, and anything that can possibly be defaced or vandalized, will be vandalized," she said.
"We are conducting the test to see if this kind of a setup would be of any assistance in preventing, not only window scratching, but any kind of crime."
Police plan to use the cameras to identify people who commit crimes on subways, but nobody has been caught yet, Florio said.
The subway cars under surveillance are inspected daily for signs of vandalism and the tapes are viewed by police, according to Florio.
"So far nobody's done anything in front of the cameras," she said.
But Florio noted the devices are placed in only three cars out of the city's nearly 5,800, making the chances of catching someone remote.
However, even three are too much for Bill Brown, a member of the Surveillance Camera Players, an activist group that protests video surveillance by staging plays in front of cameras in public spaces.
"Any camera in a public space is a clear violation of the First, Fourth, and Fifth Amendments. They have a chilling effect on free speech and violate rules of unreasonable search and seizure and being compelled to give evidence against yourself," he said.
Brown worries about what authorities do with video collected from subway and other security cameras. "The open-endedness of what happens to an image is problematic," he said. "Police videos get shown on television all the time. And if they get uploaded to the Internet, it has global implications."
The cameras are "potentially troubling" to the Straphangers Campaign, a consumer group. In a statement, staff attorney Gene Russianoff questioned who would monitor the cameras and how a suspect would be pursued if captured committing a crime on tape.
Lt. Steven Donahoo of the NYPD Transit Bureau, which reviews the tapes, declined to comment on the purpose and number of cameras.
"We don't want people to know about it. It's only a pilot program right now, so that would be a little premature," he said.
Surveillance cameras are increasingly being used to combat crime in New York City and around the world. Under the Giuliani Administration, cameras have been installed in public housing projects and parks in an effort to reduce crime. Cameras are also used to catch drivers who run red lights.
The mayor's office did not return numerous phone calls.
But most straphangers agreed with the goal to make subways safer.
"A lot of things go on in the subways," said Robert Taylor, 49, who was riding the No. 2 train on his way to his home in Harlem.
"They've got to do something to keep the ridership safe."
Contact the Surveillance Camera Players
By e-mail Info@notbored.org
By snail mail: SCP c/o NOT BORED! POB 1115, Stuyvesant Station, New York City 10009-9998
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