Transit Must Move Faster to Prevent Train Thefts

Justine Randall: Accused in thefts of trains
Justine Randall: Accused in thefts of trains

AUGUST 8--An epidemic of youthful train thefts is rocking the system and the MTA is moving slower than molasses to address it.
 
Just two weeks ago, Justine Randall, 18, was arrested for allegedly using stolen keys to gain access to an N Train in Astoria, Queens, driving it one stop southbound. Randall – a serial train hijacker who also purloins MTA property and has attacked a Transit worker—was in court yesterday after previously jumping bail and ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation. Randall currently has cases in Queens, Bronx, and Brooklyn courts.
 
It’s not like this is news to the MTA. Over two years ago, in March of 2023, after two suspects stole a train in Brooklyn, the Transit Authority said that it was “exploring the possibility of adding biometric identification measures” to prevent thefts. Today, that solution is still covered in bureaucratic red tape. Stories broke earlier this year of groups of kids boarding and driving out-of-service or laid-up trains on joyrides, creating videos for social media and having the time of their young lives while they exploit the weaknesses of MTA’s security. Other reports found young people stealing train crew equipment.

“When they accused New York City transit workers of stealing time it took the MTA two weeks to bring biometric readers – manufactured by Kronos – onto the property,” says RTO Vice President Tramell Thompson. “Why is it going to take another year or two to get the biometric readers to secure trains?”
 
“The technology is there. They spend money on everything else, except safety and making sure the riders and workers are safe. We have to wait for a ‘procurement process’ to take place?”

On August 5, Thompson told WPIX-TV news reporter Anthony DiLorenzo: "The MTA, they're not going to do anything or take action until someone gets killed. By then, it's too late."

Thompson also said that the actions of mainly young people with access to train cars has led to unfounded allegations against union members, who were accused of moving trains when they testified that they did not. He called for anyone convicted of stealing a train to be charged with a felony offense. “They should take it as seriously as someone going onto a runway and hijacking a plane.”
 
But with an obvious solution in sight – rolling out of biometric technology – the MTA has been sitting on its hands while these incidents get more and more views on social media, leading to copycats.
 
“This shouldn’t be just the union, pushing by ourselves,” Thompson said. “Management is treating this like it’s just part of the job. The bosses are secure in their workplaces, but the workers are not.”
 
He adds that he has been in close conversations with the MTA’s criminal justice advocate, Kathryn Falasca, paying attention to the court cases, moving to press the justice system to increase penalties against these perpetrators. But all of this could be avoided, Thompson says, if the MTA would act with some sense of urgency and fast-track the biometric readers.