Philadelphia lawmakers pushing for better parking garage security

CENTER CITY (WPVI) -- Last week Action News spoke exclusively with a young woman who was beaten and sexually assaulted during broad daylight inside a Philadelphia parking garage.

Since that report, members of city council have come forward demanding better security in parking garages.

Philadelphia City Council President Darrell Clarke says the transition to automated pay kiosks at garages, like the one at 17th and Callowhill streets where the incident took place, have resulted in less staff, less security and a more dangerous environment.

Clarke says he believes that is a public safety concern.

"This is a case clearly where there should have been some additional surveillance or individuals on the scene and we hope something like this never happens again," said Clarke.

These are conditions that the victim believes allowed her attacker to violently assault her for 20 minutes.

She says the suspect, who is awaiting trial, only stopped when she managed to escape and jump in front of a car passing by.

"Nobody came out to help me and if those people didn't drive up when they did I wouldn't be talking to you today," she said.

Jane, whose identity we've protected, is suing the company that owns the garage and the company that manages it.

In her lawsuit she claims there were not enough cameras and no staff in the garage the morning of the attack.

That's something the company refutes and gave us the following statement:

The safety and securing of our tenants and guests is our highest priority.

On the day of the incident in question, we did have roving security on duty in the parking garage. Unfortunately, no security system is perfect and we were not able to prevent this tragic incident. Our security team at the property cooperated closely with law enforcement and the perpetrator was later arrested.

We do not publicly disclose specific security procedures, staffing levels, or schedules in place at individual properties or locations. We believe doing so could have the unintended consequence of undermining security by providing information to those who might seek to exploit it.

We are confident in the quality and capability of our security teams, staffing levels and procedures and believe they fully comply with relevant city ordinances.

Action News found only a few cameras at the entrance and over the pay kiosk - as well as a locked security office at 5:00 in the evening.

Clarke says many privately owned garages are putting savings ahead of security as they've implemented self-pay technology.

"If there is a way to do things less expensively they're going to do that. Eliminating employees is the highest cost of operations - that is the case in this particular case and in a number of locations using the kiosks," said Clarke.

The National Parking Association's safety guidelines document cites a study from the University of Scranton garage in which cameras are actively monitored and connected to a Public Safety Communication Center.

Clarke and Councilman and Chair of Public Safety Curtis Jones, are pushing for legislation requiring privately owned garages to install similar systems.

Jones says we also have the technology that could link those cameras to the Philadelphia Police Department.

"If we use that technology we can multiply the safety effect for everyone," he said.

In addition, Jones is looking to expand the safe cam program in Philadelphia which reimburses certain businesses for installing security cameras.

Garages operated by the Philadelphia Parking Authority have much stricter security guidelines.

Clarke tells Action News, in preparation for the next administration, the city will see better security and technology in public and private places.