Police Working To Make Lake Street Light Rail Safer
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Crime is a serious issue at one stop on the light rail. And police have a new tactic to stop it.
More assaults and robberies happen at the Lake Street station than any other, along the line. Officials say fixing the blind spots in Metro Transit's video surveillance system could help.
Police have recorded more than 240 crimes at this station so far this year.
Metro Transit is upgrading the surveillance system with hopes to stop these troublemakers.
Right now, there are eight cameras that watch this entire area, including the stairwells.
Metro Transit is having 24 high-definition security cameras installed. The sharper detail will help police identify suspects and provide a clearer overall picture of what's going on at the Lake Street station.
The cameras are being paid for with federal grant money and will go up next month.
"We believe that by putting a camera and additional cameras on the station platform that it will actually deter some of those that might think about committing a crime here," said Bruce Howard, director of customer services and marketing for Metro Transit.
It's a relief for riders who say at times they don't feel safe.
"There's just people always passed-out drunk here or following you or harassing you," said Tammy Flores.
Metro Transit and the Corcoran Neighborhood have been working together for a couple of years to combat the crime.
They've upgraded the lighting, more officers are watching the station and they've started playing music up on the platform, which is another fairly new effort at that station.
Classical music pours out of the speakers in the hope that it will prevent loitering. But there's no hard data to say whether it's working so far.
