BART to replace decoy cameras on trains with real ones

Days after acknowledging that most of the security cameras on BART trains were decoys but defending their use, transit agency officials said Wednesday they will phase out the fakes and replace them with working cameras.

The announcement came less than a week after The Chronicle revealed that the vast majority of what appeared to be cameras mounted on the ceilings of BART trains were dummies intended to fool riders, and that as a result the agency failed to capture video footage of a Jan. 9 fatal shooting of a man aboard a train at the West Oakland Station.

The lack of working surveillance cameras was revealed after BART police investigating the shooting in Oakland were left with no video recording from the train.

BART police, four days after the killing, released photos of the suspect that were captured by station cameras as he entered the system in Pittsburg and as he allegedly fled the West Oakland Station.

The suspect, a black man who is tall and thin with close-cut hair, appeared to be wearing a dark green jacket with a hood, a backpack, jeans and beige work-style boots.

The use of dummy cameras is common in private security but unusual among transit systems.

BART Police Chief Kenton Rainey initially defended the use of decoy cameras, and said the on-train surveillance cameras were a small part of a robust, multilayered security system that includes more modern cameras at stations that can be monitored by police in real time.

The agency is replacing its entire fleet of trains, and officials said every car in the new fleet will be equipped with cutting-edge cameras producing footage that can be watched live from a central monitoring station.