Broken surveillance cameras hampered hunt for Brooklyn subway shooter
NYPD investigators were left scrambling to track down the madman behind the Brooklyn subway attack after surveillance cameras at both stations impacted by the incident malfunctioned, The Post has learned.
For more than 24 hours, Frank James, the prime suspect in Tuesday’s bloody attack that left 29 wounded, was in the wind, and police sources say the malfunctioning cameras prevented them from getting an early lead on his whereabouts, and a solid description.
“If it wasn’t for those social media posts, we wouldn’t have known what had happened there for maybe even days,” a police source griped, referring to videos of the attack posted online.
“It was a s–t show,” the source continued.
“It has to be this f—ing one that was down and it was the one that we needed.”
James was ultimately taken into custody on Wednesday, police sources told The Post.
Cameras at both the 36th Street station, where the attack occurred, and the 25th Street station, where James may have fled, were on and recording but weren’t transmitting footage back to MTA headquarters and the NYPD, according to MTA spokesperson Tim Minton.
“The cameras worked, but because there was a server issue, the pictures were not reaching the police command center, were not reaching the MTA security center,” Minton explained.
Footage from the cameras, which sources familiar with the matter said are “old,” weren’t accessible, which is why it took cops hours to release an image of the suspect.
NYPD officers trying to gain access to the footage at first thought that they’d been locked out of the feeds by the MTA because the investigation was possibly terrorism-related and federal investigators had taken over, but it turned out the cameras just weren’t functioning properly.
Compounding the issue is the fact that there were no cameras installed at all on the platforms of the 36th Street and 25th Street stations, the MTA said.
“There are no cameras at the platforms at any of those stations. The idea that MTA cameras would have captured the incident or the aftermath of the incident is simply not the case,” Minton explained.
“One of the things the MTA has been working to do is dramatically increase the number of cameras in the system. Three years ago, we only had 30 percent of stations covered by cameras in the system. Now, every station is covered by cameras … At any given time, it may be that up to 1 percent of cameras may not be operational.”
A police source with knowledge of the investigation said the department had to rely on video taken by commuters – and mistakes the shooter made — to figure out who he was.
“An investigation starts with video, so any law enforcement agency would be behind the 8 ball because the MTA didn’t have surveillance working, but thankfully people were taking video. Everyone having a cellphone definitely aided,” the source said.
James, who allegedly rented a U-Haul in Philadelphia before ditching it in Brooklyn the night before his hellish attack, left the rental paperwork, which included a recent photo of himself, inside the van, which helped the NYPD’s Facial Recognition Unit track him down.
The police source with knowledge of the probe said without the public’s help, investigators would have been even further away from tracking down James.
“If no one was there with a cellphone, we would be so far behind because of the lack of communication at the MTA and the higher-ups not realizing the cameras weren’t working. How many other stations around the city have this problem because of people not staying on top of this technology?” they questioned.
A 2018 audit by the state comptroller found nearly one-third of scheduled preventative maintenance on MTA cameras was not performed, and the MTA’s Emergency Management Division took longer than three days to complete the repairs in 26 percent of instances.
“We have almost 10,000 cameras in the system. At any given time, up to 1 percent may not be operational for various reasons, including scheduled maintenance,” Minton countered.
“However, what was working and reaching where it needed to be were hundreds of other images taken from hundreds of other cameras, which have provided material support to the police investigation.”
