A new bill introduced this week by New York lawmakers would force the MTA's fast-growing force of subway police officers to wear body cameras.
Queens State Senator Jessica Ramos introduced the legislation on Wednesday, following reporting by Gothamist earlier this week that the new subway cops are currently exempt from city body camera policy because they are state police.
“It is imperative that all law enforcement officials abide by the same standards when actively patrolling members of our communities," Ramos said in a statement. "Body cameras are an effective tool for ensuring transparency and guaranteeing interactions between police officers and every day New Yorkers are recorded."
The legislation, which is co-sponsored by Senator Brad Hoylman, would require the MTA to equip its officers with cameras capable of audio and video recording—as all uniformed NYPD officers are currently required to wear. The mandate would apply to the existing 783 MTA police officers, in addition to the 500 new officers that the MTA is currently in the process of hiring.
Until recently, NYPD transit officers were largely responsible for patrolling the subways, while MTA police were mostly stationed near commuter trains, bridges, and tunnels. That changed this past summer, when Governor Andrew Cuomo directed the agency to hire more cops to crack down on fare evasion, homelessness, and other "quality-of-life issues." Roughly 400 MTA police officers have already been diverted to subway stations, prompting the scorn of advocates who say they are targeting poor New Yorkers.
The 500 new subway cops will come at an estimated cost of $663 million over the next decade, around $40 million of which will be paid by criminal forfeiture money handed over by Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance. The MTA is currently staring down a $1 billion deficit.
During a board meeting on Wednesday, MTA Chief Pat Foye said that the agency has been in discussions with the MTA police union, the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, about body cameras "for some time." Foye added that he personally supported the proposal as an accountability measure. The MTA did not respond to follow-up questions about the status of the conversation with the union.
A Cuomo spokesperson would not say whether the office supports body cameras for MTA officers, but said the governor would review the bill.
