Big Brother Comes to Boston

August 31, 2012

Paul MacMillan
Chief of Police
MBTA Transit Police Department

Dear Police Chief MacMillan:

I'm writing to complain about the new surveillance cameras on the MBTA and to protest against their extension to commuter rail cars, subway cars, and buses. These cameras are an unnecessary and offensive invasion of the privacy of law-abiding passengers.

I have used the MBTA to commute to work five days a week for the last nine years and have had to contend with daily delays, broken-down trains, overstuffed cars, fare increases, rude employees, and every other imaginable frustration. The situation has only gotten worse each year. If the T truly cared about its customers, it would work to improve these basic operations. Instead, it wastes our money on random bag searches, Big Brother surveillance cameras, and "See Something, Say Something" campaigns--little more than security theater designed to address problems that don't actually exist. The empirical data does not support the need for or the effectiveness of these measures. (I will discuss the data in a moment.)

Until last month, I was still willing to cut the MBTA some slack. It is a frustrating but nevertheless convenient way to get to work every day. However, the new cameras are the final push I needed. I will be buying a bicycle and will not give any more money to the T until the cameras are removed.

Why does the MBTA feel these cameras are necessary? The Boston subway has been operating for 115 years without them, a full 11 of those years after 9/11. Are we supposed to believe that now the subway has become so dangerous as to require the constant surveillance of one million innocent people every day? It's telling, I think, that the cameras were installed so surreptitiously, without input from the public. Maybe the T knew the move would be unpopular.

Actually, I don't doubt that I'm in the minority and that most of your customers consent to being monitored and recorded. That's because they've been convinced that 1) they are in imminent danger, and 2) surveillance cameras will keep them safe. But neither of these things is true.

Let's look at the data. My objections to the cameras (aside from the creepy voyeurism) are twofold:

1. Riding the MBTA is, for the most part, perfectly safe, therefore the cameras are unnecessary.
2. Security cameras do nothing to reduce crime (not to mention terrorism), therefore the cameras are ineffective.

To address the first point, I consulted the statistics on your very own website. According to Transit Police reports, in 2010, there were 602 larcenies, 226 robberies, 121 aggravated assaults, 32 vehicle thefts, etc., with the worst crimes, murder and rape, at one each. Larcenies went up a little in 2011, but the other crime rates held steady. Across the entire MBTA transportation system! This does not constitute a crime wave, and to claim otherwise is fearmongering and alarmism. Other crimes, including trespassing, disorderly conduct, vandalism, etc., are also comparatively rare, no more frequent on T property than anywhere else in Boston. As for fare evasion--by far the most common offense, at 3,246 incidents in 2010 and 3,536 in 2011--there are simple and cost-effective solutions that do not involve spying on passengers: for example, better training for T staff and more employees stationed at turnstiles. Instead, the Transit Police, like the TSA, apparently believe that if they can just institute enough expensive and intrusive security measures, they can get those numbers down to zero. But perfect security is impossible, and we have to decide where to draw the line. Will the T be installing full-body scanners next?

I calculate that I've ridden the subway approximately 5,000 times in the nine years I've lived in Boston. In all that time, I've never been so much as robbed. And now, the T says, my commute just isn't safe enough and cameras will make it even safer--that is, in the very unlikely possibility that, say, sometime during the next 5,000 rides, I am the victim of a crime, and on the off chance that crime is caught on tape and the perpetrator is visible and identifiable. All I have to do is consent to being monitored and recorded each of the other 4,999 times. Unlike my fellow passengers, that's not a trade-off I'm willing to make.

As for my second objection, the Surveillance Studies Centre and many other groups have shown that surveillance cameras do nothing to deter crime. And the idea that these cameras and bag searches will deter terrorists--individuals by definition willing to murder numbers of innocent people, not to mention themselves--is too ludicrous to need refuting. Of course, the T has never, in all of its 115 years, been the target of a terrorist attack or even, as far as I know, a terrorist threat. But why let facts get in the way?

So, as long as the cameras were installed without public input, how about a little transparency now? What happens to the video footage? How long is it stored? Who will have access to it? Have any specific policies been put in place to protect the privacy of passengers? Will the MBTA be releasing more humiliating footage to the local news of disabled people falling down escalators, as it did last month? If I have no expectation of privacy on the subway, do I at least have an expectation that a video of me, taken against my will, won't end up going viral on YouTube?

The MBTA likes to pretend that commuters have a choice about riding the subway, but this argument is disingenuous. In fact, there are very few options for those of us who can't afford a car or an apartment downtown. And with ridership at record highs, the T certainly won't miss one passenger. But I felt compelled to write this letter and voice my concerns, even if it changes nothing. I'm just sorry the MBTA has decided to sell out our privacy for millions of dollars in federal grant money.

Thank you for your time.