HOUSTON -- An expensive camera system has failed to spot criminals at Houston METRO Park & Ride lots throughout the Houston area, and METRO leaders have moved to keep those camera failures a secret, Local 2 Investigates reported Thursday.

The Houston Metropolitan Transit Authority reported that 271 camera failure reports have been filed since January 2008, with 10 instances of entire Park & Ride lots being offline and invisible to police officers who are supposed to watch the cameras for crime.

Some METRO police officers told Local 2 Investigates the problem is much more widespread than those numbers suggest. Those officers said they are being posted at Park & Ride lots nearly every day in response to crimes that were never detected by the network of 354 cameras.

The cameras are part of a system known as MetroNet, which allows officers at Houston Transtar to monitor cameras, close access gates and speak over a public address system whenever trouble is spotted at Park & Ride lots. Those lots are stationed all over Harris County, allowing people to park their cars and then ride Metro buses into downtown and other locations.

"We don't rely on technology in and of itself in a vacuum to approach our whole system security strategies. Technology is a piece of what we do," said METRO Police Chief Tom Lambert.

He pointed to a 2007 video taken at the Bay Area Park & Ride lot, where police swarmed in to catch a burglar inside someone else's car, calling it a success story for the camera system. He said the cameras have helped to cut Park & Ride crimes in half since they were installed in 2005. He said there were 200 burglary reports before the cameras, but only 105 for the same timeframe through August of this year.

"I'm not aware of anything that's got moving parts that's 100 percent reliable," said Lambert.

METRO officers said the cameras were useless in a string of crimes last week near the Gulf Freeway and the South Sam Houston Toll Road. One car was stolen and two others broken into on Sept. 14, but the cameras at South Point Park & Ride did not spot the crimes as they were happening. Police reviewed the tapes later, but reported no clues. A patrol car was then stationed in the lot for several days after the crimes.

A car was stolen at the Cypress Park & Ride off Highway 290 earlier this month, even though cameras are visible inside and outside the modern parking garage facility.

One internal METRO e-mail on July 15 listed several Park & Ride crimes that were missed by the camera system. At the Kuykendahl Park & Ride, a GPS device was stolen after someone popped the lock on the driver's side of a pickup truck. At the Missouri City Park & Ride, a Jeep was scratched by a key down both sides, and then an SUV was burglarized at the Fannin South Park & Ride. In all three cases, the e-mail said, "no video footage recovered."

In one case, the memo said the car was parked out of the camera's view. The memo made no mention to the dozens of other cameras on the lot that could have spotted a thief's car entering or leaving the lot.

A separate internal METRO e-mail on Aug. 4 listed three different Park & Ride locations, "whose cameras were totally down" during periods of July. The Pinemont lot was listed as being entirely invisible to Transtar officers who were monitoring the cameras from July 18 through July 20, the Fannin South lot was out during a power outage on July 23, and the North Shepherd Park & Ride was out beginning July 25 and was listed as "presently down" when the memo was written.

"I think it's really ridiculous," said Michael Ford, who uses the North Shepherd Park & Ride every day. "It's not safe around for working people that are going downtown to work -- for their families. It's not right."

Another Park & Ride patron, Farid Roper, pointed at signs all over the lot declaring cameras are watching at all times. He said, "They tell us that the cameras (are) working, but it's not working, so somebody got their priorities mixed up, and they need to start telling the truth. If it's not working, it's not working."

Some METRO officers who are assigned to Park & Ride patrols told Local 2 Investigates that cameras are missing crimes at Park & Ride lots nearly every single day.

Russell Marquis, who uses the Kuykendahl Park & Ride, said, "I would prefer, of course, that all the cameras work, because I don't want my car broken into and I'm sure everybody else feels the same way."

But METRO transit headquarters has filed documents in an effort to keep quiet about its camera failures. In response to a Local 2 Investigates request for complete camera maintenance and outage reports, METRO filed with the Texas Attorney General, asking that the documents be kept secret.

In the letter to the Attorney General, METRO General Counsel Pauline Higgins wrote, "METRO has seen patterns of increased crimes when a security camera is out of order.

"Information related to malfunction and repairs, if disclosed, would unduly interfere with METRO's efforts to reduce crime and increase safety," she wrote.

She continued that, "The release of this information will enable persons with criminal intentions an insight as to which METRO facilities (Park & Rides, HOV Lanes, etc) will be vulnerable and could possibly allow for those areas to be targeted for criminal activity."

Despite METRO's refusal to provide records of exactly how quickly outages are repaired, or how long the camera outages last, Lambert insisted that no Park & Ride lots have been without camera surveillance for lengthy periods of time.

"When we've had 271 reports of camera problems since January 2008, I think it's a little less than one a day. Yeah, cameras go out. We then get them fixed," said Lambert. "I don't see that right now being outside of what one would expect with the number of cameras that we have out there."