By KATHY CHANG
Staff Writer
METUCHEN — In the wake of a series of explosions that were set off in Seaside Park and the Chelsea section of New York City, borough officials said they would like to see cameras implemented at the Metuchen train station.
“It’s dumbfounding that in light of not just what happened this weekend, but what has gone on that [cameras] are not required,” said Councilman Jay Muldoon at a Borough Council meeting on Sept. 19.
Ahmad Khan Rahami, 28, of Elizabeth and a 2007 graduate of Edison High School, was apprehended in a shootout with Linden police on Sept. 19 and has since been charged in Manhattan and New Jersey federal courts with executing bombings in New York City and New Jersey.
The charges against Rahami include multiple counts for the attempt to use weapons of mass destruction and bombing and attempting to bomb a place of public use and public transportation system.
Mayor Peter Cammarano said he met with Police Chief David Irizarry and discussed Homeland Security issues.
“We don’t live in a bubble,” he said. “Over the years we have talked to New Jersey Transit on putting cameras on the platform [but] we have not been successful in getting them to do so.”
Cammarano said unfortunately it is New Jersey Transit’s property, and the issue has been the expense of the cameras.
“We can’t go in and put them there,” he said.
Irizarry said the Metuchen Police Department would welcome cameras on the New Jersey Transit platform not only for what has [recently] transpired, but also to assist the department in solving other investigations as well as deterring criminals from committing future crimes in or around the borough.
“Hopefully, New Jersey Transit will install cameras soon whether it be during a station upgrade or just as an addition to the existing platform,” he said.
Lisa Torbic, senior public information officer for NJ Transit, said the New Jersey Transit Police Department uses a variety of law enforcement techniques and equipment to safeguard their customers, employees and facilities across New Jersey.
“The department regularly patrols stations, engages in targeted enforcement and makes use of available technology,” she said. “Although NJ Transit does not discuss in detail its security measures, as requests from municipalities and others come in, we evaluate the circumstances and allocate resources as efficiently as possible.”
Muldoon said officials can reach out to Woodbridge Mayor John McCormac and Edison Mayor Thomas Lankey to muster support for the installation of cameras on the platforms of each train station in their municipalities.
Councilwoman Dorothy Rasmussen said cameras are essential since a set of explosives was found near the train station in Elizabeth, which is along the Northeast Corridor Line that the Metuchen station is on.
Rahami was charged in connection with an explosion in Seaside Park on Sept. 17 where a pipe-bomb-style device went off in a garbage can at approximately 9:35 a.m., along the route of a 5K Semper Five run and walk to benefit military soldiers, and with an explosion in New York City around 8:30 p.m. in the vicinity of 135 W. 23rd St. in the Chelsea section of the city that injured more than 30 people.
He was also charged in connection with the pipe bombs found in a wastebasket near the entrance of the Elizabeth train station on Sept. 18.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation, New Jersey State Police and New York State Police released multiple wanted posters containing images of Rahami during the early morning hours of Sept. 19.
Within hours, Rahami was located and apprehended after a shootout with Linden police that left two officers injured.
The charges of attempting to use weapons of mass destruction carry a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.