Brooklyn Subway Shooting Camera Fails – NBC New York (47)

NEW YORK – Security cameras at the Brooklyn subway station where an armed suspect opened fire in April, injuring 10 people during rush hour, had failed days earlier. However, the outage went undetected for a full day and “inadequate” protocols led to repair delays, a report from the MTA’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) found.

The investigation into the failure of the security cameras of April 12th 36th street in Sunset Park began soon after the shooting that day at the hands of suspected gunman Frank James.

Police had previously acknowledged that security cameras at three stations were down that morning, including the one at 36th street.

According to the OIG findings, revealed on Thursday, “shortages of staffing, maintenance and internal controls significantly delayed the discovery that the video was not being transmitted and the eventual repair of the network.”

There was no evidence the disruption was intentional, the researchers said. And while the exact reason for the network failure remains unclear at this time, the OIG investigation determined that cameras at all three stations went dark at 5:21pm on April 8. The workers of New York Transit They encountered the problem 24 hours later, and the group responsible for maintaining the network didn’t notice the outage until two days later, the OIG office said. Read the full report.

Repairs to the network began on the morning of April 11, the researchers added, more than two full days after the outage began. OIG said limited staffing caused delays in both discovery of problems and repairs. Insufficient training for the group in charge of maintaining camera network equipment and a “poor” maintenance protocol for network equipment were also identified as contributors to the overall problem, the researchers said.

After the April 12 attack on the station 36th street in Sunset Park, sources told our sister network Nbc New York that the inability to access the station’s cameras slowed down the investigation. Were it not for the cell phone video, they said there would have been little or no record of the immediate aftermath of the suspect opening fire and shooting 10 people on the crowded N train.

However, other MTA cameras provided useful footage that day.

“It’s about maintenance,” Acting Inspector General Elizabeth Keating said in releasing the OIG report Thursday. “The understaffing in maintenance positions is real and is a much larger problem affecting operations New York Transit“.

New York Transit it has already taken steps to address the OIG’s preliminary findings and recommendations, according to the report. The agency says it has implemented a formal reporting protocol for maintenance issues and has begun the transition to a reporting system. Software which offers better technology for tracking and generating work orders.

The MTA has nearly 10,000 cameras at its 472 subway stations, and additional cameras at nearby stations helped police track James’s movements before and after the shooting.

James also allegedly left behind a bag containing weapons, smoke grenades and the key to a U-Haul truck he had driven. The truck was found parked near a station where authorities believe he entered the subway dressed in construction clothes. He was arrested the next day in New York and charged with a federal terrorism felony.

James pleaded not guilty. His trial is expected to begin early next year.