CAMERAS WILL PROTECT CITY BUSES VEHICLE VANDALISM A WORRY.

Byline: Angela M. Lemire Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA - The city will use surveillance cameras to put the ``bus'' in ``busted.''

By summer, small digital cameras will be mounted high inside the front of 34 Santa Clarita city buses to crack down on graffiti artists who carve into windows and damage upholstery, said Transportation Manager Ron Kilcoyne. The cameras will be installed in new and existing local buses, but not in Dial-A-Ride and commuter buses that travel outside Santa Clarita, he said.

``The key words are prevention and apprehension,'' Kilcoyne said Wednesday. ``We didn't want to wait for a major problem before we had something like this in place.''

While assaults and violent crimes seen on transportation systems of more-urban areas are rare for Santa Clarita's buses, graffiti and vandalism are not, officials say.

Regardless of crime severity, city officials want surveillance cameras to deter a wide range of offenses. The cameras will be in plain view, to give would-be criminals second thoughts before acting. Local police encouraged the city to install cameras on buses, Kilcoyne said.

``(Criminals) will know that if something happens, the sheriffs can pull a tape to identify who was responsible,'' he said.

In the past, the city's transportation division combated vandals with simple measures, but they require constant upkeep and maintenance. For example, plastic window guards currently prevent vandals from ``etching'' carvings into glass and can be changed nightly, and bus upholstery has highly patterned designs. Even if passengers write on seats, the busy patterns make graffiti hard to see, Kilcoyne explained.

Although many high school students use city buses to get to school, Kilcoyne said problems associated with youthful rowdiness did not prompt the need for surveillance cameras. Students using the buses settled down after adult monitors and Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies began riding buses delivering students to local schools.

City officials approved the purchase of surveillance cameras during the 1999-2000 budget process and began soliciting bids for the camera installations this week. Officials expect the cameras to cost between $5,000 and $9,000 each. Delivery and installation are expected to be completed by summer, Kilcoyne said.