Chicago To Install Surveillance Cameras On Every Street Corner
NewsToBeRead
February 19, 2009
BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter
Mayor Daley has argued that security and terrorism won't be an issue if his
Olympic dreams come true because, by 2016, there will be a surveillance
camera on every street corner in Chicago.
But even before that blanket coverage begins, the "Big Brother'' network is
being put to better use.
Call takers and dispatchers now see real-time video if there is a
surveillance cameras within 150 feet of a 911 call, thanks to a $6 million
upgrade to the city's "computer-aided dispatch" system.
When live video appears, call takers can pan, tilt and zoom those cameras to
get the best possible view of a crime or disaster scene.
"As a first responder, I can't tell you how important it is to have a set of
eyes on an emergency scene prior to your arrival. The valuable information
they provide from the camera network can ultimately mean the difference
between life and death," said Ray Orozco, executive director of the city's
Office of Emergency Management and Communications.
"Whether you send one ambulance or three, two squad cars or four, it all
depends upon the information we are able to gather from the 911 caller,"
said Orozco, a former fire commissioner.
During a December test, live video was used to catch a petty thief in the
act of sticking his hand in a Salvation Army kettle outside Macy's on State
Street.
But, the crime-fighting potential is "limitless," said Police Superintendent
Jody Weis.
"You know what the suspect's vehicle might be. It can give us instant leads.
. . . We may get some information from that where we may not even respond to
that location. We could actually get ahead of it and go to a place where
that vehicle maybe was last seen or the individual might be running to,"
Weis said.
And, "If we can warn our officers of any dangers they're facing ahead of
time, it's a tremendous advantage."
Although the city's vast surveillance network includes cameras installed at
private businesses, universities and homes, Orozco said civil libertarians
have nothing to fear.
"We do not and we will not take access to any camera inside of a building,''
he said. When the city accesses private cameras, workers only see "what you
would see if you were sitting on a park bench in front of that building," he
said.
In 2004, City Hall used a $5.1 million federal homeland security grant to
install 250 cameras at locations thought to be at high risk of a terrorist
attack and link them and 2,000 existing city cameras to the 911 center.
Chicago then launched "Operation Virtual Shield,'' by linking 1,000 miles of
fiber cable to a unified "homeland security grid'' - complete with hundreds
of additional cameras and sensors to monitor the city's water supply and
detect chemical and biological weapons.
On Thursday, Orozco refused to say how many cameras are currently linked to
the 911 center. But, he reiterated Daley's earlier promise.
"We're going to grow the system until we eventually cover one end of the
city to the other," he said.
Frank Merlott
> http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/1440402,mayor-daley-emergency-surveillance-cameras.article
>
> February 19, 2009
>
> BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter
> Mayor Daley has argued that security and terrorism won't be an issue if his
> Olympic dreams come true because, by 2016, there will be a surveillance
> camera on every street corner in Chicago.
>
I once reported a neighbour drug dealer to the cops and they literally
told me "do not worry, the cameras will catch him", but I am still
putting up with that chav, crass, loud piece of shit in my block of
flats.
Mayor Daley needs a new brain and possibly also a new job, cameras dont
catch people.
--
Privacylover: http://www.privacylover.com
zzbu...@netscape.net
> http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/1440402,mayor-daley-emergency-s...
But, unfortunately video feeds have nothing to do with crime or
crime
prevention. Which is why the people with actual science and
engineering
intellects regulated video to Politcal Hack jobs like Mayors quite
long ago.
And work on A.I., DSP, Optical Computers, RISC, Parallel
Processing,
On-Line Banking, On-Line Publishing, Robotic Systems, Holographics,
GPS, Autonomous Vehicles, Lasers, Masers, and Science.Instead.