Metro's ridership isn't the only thing that has been increasing over the past year, Metro crime has been tagging along.

An 18 percent rise in crime on trains and in stations has Metro Transit looking to crack down. Ten high-crime Metrorail stations will be outfitted with outdoor surveillance cameras between now and the end of the year, in an effort to ramp up security. The district will pay the entire cost for the cameras, which comes to $225,000.

And that's not the end of Metro's plans for security upgrades, either. Transit police want to put another 20 cameras at suburban stations, but Maryland and Virginia would have to cover the cost.

Robbery is the most common crime on the Metro system, and in the District it is at its highest at the Anacostia station, which had 32 robberies reported last year alone. Metro plans to install several cameras there.

Metro hopes that the cameras will serve as a deterrent, since they'll be plainly visible to the public. They will also help transit police with criminal investigations after crimes occur.

Metro's board also approved the addition of 28 officers to its transit police force Thursday, allocating more than $2 million for that improvement. This will bring the transit police force to 421 officers total.

Opponents of the plan consider cameras an invasion of privacy and other riders question whether an extra set of eyes will really deter criminals.

Email To A Friend