More surveillance cameras coming to Metro lots

WASHINGTON -- Metro parking lots and garages have become a big target for thieves. Global positioning system devices, cell phones, iPods and even cars have all been stolen recently.

In response, the transit agency is beefing up its stock of surveillance cameras.

Metro has received grant money to install more cameras at its parking lots and garages, WTOP has learned. And, the transit agency is applying for another grant to try to secure additional funding for cameras.

Currently, 13 Metro parking lots and garages have cameras, but with more than 50,000 cars a day using the lots, more than 13 cameras are needed.

It isn't known where these new cameras will go, but a recent report from new Metro Police Chief Michael Taborn shows most crime is happening at end of the line stations with parking lots. New Carrollton and Franconia-Springfield topped the list.

Additionally, Metro Transit Police tell WTOP they plan to install automatic license plate readers on their cruisers. Those devices can scan hundreds of license plates (in a parking lot for example) and check the tags against a huge database of stolen vehicles.

The cameras are mounted on the outside of police vehicles, and snap pictures of every license plate they pass. When a match is made with a stolen vehicle, it alerts the officer driving.

"What thieves will do sometimes is steal a car and leave it at a Metro parking lot, then steal another car," says Capt. David Webb of Metro's Criminal Investigative Division. "This will help us locate some of those stolen vehicles."

Some local police departments already use those devices.

Taborn also says additional forces are being redeployed to some parking lots for extra security, although he says police will continue to make sure it is Metro riders that receive the most protection.

(Copyright 2008 by WTOP. All Rights Reserved.)