Pittsburgh Seeks to Deter, Record Crime With More Cameras
Eyeing technology as a way to deter and fight crime, Pittsburgh recently submitted a federal application to install 220 cameras, enough to cover nearly every neighborhood.
In a joint request with the Community College of Allegheny County and Carnegie Mellon University, the city asked for $12 million to $14 million in Broadband Technology Opportunities Program funds, being dispensed by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, to buy security cameras, install a wireless network to operate them and create software to filter the content.
From Government Technology/Digital Communities, April 07, 2010
IT Improving Transportation Security, but Integration and Interoperability Still a Challenge
If the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, initiated greater concern for aviation security, the Mumbai attacks of November 26, 2008, brought the spotlight on port security. Likewise, the Madrid train bombings of 2004 and the 7/7 bombings of the London public transport system emphasized the pressing need for mass transit security.
Over the last decade, the spate of terrorist attacks was a clear pointer to the major lacuna in emergency preparedness of governments worldwide. The inability to detect and communicate potential threats and mission-critical intelligence that could have made the difference between crisis and control was apparent.
From SupplyDemandChain, April 06, 2010
Cameras make Chicago most closely watched US city
When the body of Chicago's school board president was found partially submerged in a river last fall, a bullet wound to the head, cameras helped prove it was a suicide.
Friends had speculated someone forced Michael Scott to drive to the river before shooting him — and maybe even wrapped his fingers around the trigger.
But within days, police recreated Scott's 20-minute drive through the city using high-tech equipment that singled out his car on a succession of surveillance cameras, handing the image from camera to camera. The video didn't capture Scott's final moments, but it helped convince police his death was a suicide: He wasn't followed. He wasn't following anyone. He never picked up a passenger.
From The Associated Press, April 05, 2010
New York City: Subway security camera plan leaves 75% of stations unwatched
Even after the MTA expands its security plans, only about one in four subway stations will have surveillance cameras at turnstiles, the Daily News has learned.
Nearly 70 stations now have surveillance cameras capturing riders entering and exiting through turnstile banks, and the MTA plans to expand surveillance of these so-called "fare control areas" to 100 stations in June.
From New York Daily News, April 04, 2010
What Recession? IMS Forecasts Growth in Surveillance Video Storage Market
About 3.2 billion gigabytes—that will be the digital storage capacity of the global surveillance marketplace sometime in 2013, according to a new study.
That marketplace will be worth about $2.5 billion, IMS Research predicts. IP and enterprise surveillance video storage is "set to grow rapidly for the foreseeable future," IMS said, despite the economic downturn.
From Government Video, April 02, 2010
South Bronx business offers buildings free WiFi
Meet Time Warner and Verizon's worst nightmare.
Ever dreamed of free broadband Internet for your home? Or of phone and television service that doesn't burn a hole in your pocket each month?
How about a free video surveillance camera to deter crime on your block or building?
From New York Daily News, April 02, 2010
Columbia, Mo, votes on public surveillance cameras
The images have stuck with bank executive Karen Taylor: Her 25-year-old son being beaten and knocked unconscious by five teenagers in a downtown parking garage.
They came from a surveillance camera in the city-owned garage, and Taylor believes more such cameras are needed downtown to help prevent and solve crimes
From Kansas City.com, April 02, 2010
City Of Raleigh Quietly Installs Spy Cameras Downtown, On Police Cars
The City of Raleigh has quietly installed two video cameras in downtown Raleigh to videotape possible crime in the Tarboro Street area. In addition, the Raleigh Police Department has also installed license plate scanners on some police cars to automatically run the license plates of parked vehicles as they drive past them.
From The Raleigh Telegram, April 01, 2010
Senate Committee Considering Electronic Privacy Laws
Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter has announced his plans to introduce legislation to ensure electronic privacy, telling a Congressional subcommittee that current wiretap and video-surveillance laws to not do enough to protect individuals.
Specter's call to action comes on the heels of a lawsuit, filed by a student of the Lower Merion School District in the Senator's home state, over a high school's attempt to locate 42 missing laptops by activating webcams.
From RedOrbit, March 30, 2010
Specter calls for stronger federal privacy laws
The alleged use of cameras in school-issued laptops for surveillance shows a need to extend the type of privacy protections found in federal wiretap laws to images, U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter (D., Pa.) said here yesterday.
After conducting a Senate subcommittee hearing on technology and privacy in the federal courthouse, Specter said he intended to propose that law himself.
From Philadephia Inquirer, March 30, 2010
