On Thursday, December 15, 2022 – SEPTA joined representatives from the City of Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Police Department, and the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office for the announcement of a $50M grant for our city – of which the Philadelphia Police Department will receive $25M in critical funding, the District Attorney’s Office will receive $20M, and SEPTA will receive $5M.
While serious crimes are rare on SEPTA – one incident is one too many – our customers and employees are not immune to the epidemic of gun violence. SEPTA is committed to making our stations and vehicles safe and secure and we are doing more than we ever have – working with the City, the Philadelphia Police Department and the new Coalition to Save Lives – to confront and find solutions to our shared challenges.
Over the past year – we have nearly doubled our annual safety and security budget to $53 million and increased salaries for recruits and veteran Transit Police Officers to be more competitive in a difficult police recruiting environment.
At the same time – we are continually evaluating new technologies to support and enhance traditional policing and keep the system safe.
Funding assistance through the new Gun Violence Investigation and Prosecution grant will allow SEPTA to deploy new technology designed to reduce the likelihood of gun-related violence in SEPTA stations.
In November 2022 – the SEPTA Board approved a pilot with ZeroEyes – becoming the first agency to demonstrate A.I. gun detection technology in a transit environment.
The ZeroEyes platform will be layered on top of SEPTA’s existing cameras and their proprietary software will identify brandished guns and alert safety personnel and SEPTA Transit Police within three to five seconds.
This nearly instantaneous, accurate, and actionable intelligence on gun-related incidents will enhance police response time – when every second is critical.
The funding in the grant will allow SEPTA to conduct a broader assessment of ZeroEyes capabilities while funding additional Transit Police personnel needed to respond to alerts and assist prosecutions.
We thank the General Assembly – and the leadership of Senator Hughes and Senator McClinton – for providing additional resources to support SEPTA’s comprehensive and proactive safety and security efforts.
The grant award is part of $170 million approved by Governor Tom Wolf’s administration to support law enforcement agencies and county district attorney offices across the Commonwealth as part of the fight to reduce and prevent gun violence.