Posted on 07/15/2005 9:26:27 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
Jul. 15, 2005 - Images from some of the 200,000 surveillance cameras in London were key in cracking the July 7 subway and bus bombings there. American cities, too, are hoping video cameras will be important weapons in the fight against terrorism, especially by helping to prevent attacks.
Several U.S. cities already use surveillance cameras to fight crime -- there are more than 2,200 cameras in Chicago, 7,000 in New York and 150 in Baltimore. Police officials say they are a major crime deterrent.
"You put a camera in a location and you have immediately a 40 percent decrease in crime for six months in that area," said Leonard Hamm, the commissioner of the Baltimore Police Department.
The Hollywood version of this technology can be decades ahead of the reality. But there are some recent innovations that make surveillance cameras more effective, such as a 360-degree spherical lens called a fisheye that enables the camera to follow a person wherever they go.
"These cameras don't have any blind spots," said Clara Conti, president of a technology company called Ipix Corporation. "Fixed cameras have blind spots."
Computers in the cameras can be programmed to look for particular faces -- like those on watch lists -- by measuring the distance between a person's eyes or the length of their nose. If the computer recognizes a face, the camera can freeze frame and zoom in.
Video can also be enhanced for extreme close-ups, for example, to read license plates. Cameras surrounding London after the bombing can photograph every license plate and driver entering and leaving the city.
Video footage helped determine the shoe size of a suspect in the 1996 Olympics bombing in Atlanta, later matched to the bomber.
Some computers can even recognize suspicious behaviors -- technology that could soon be used in cameras in the United States.
"So if someone drops a bag, for example, you can get software to recognize that automatically and beep," said Geoff Egnal, the chief technology officer at Ipix.
But what about the eye of "big brother" constantly upon us? Many people and civil liberties groups worry about infringement on our privacy, but security officials insist the cameras are necessary.
"If we see something suspicious, we're able to deploy an officer to the scene immediately," said Maj. David Engel of the Baltimore Police Department.
fyi
We have become such a feminized society it isn't even funny.
My town, which is presumably bankrupt, just spent some money on a Gay Pride parade. Can't afford security cameras now. *spit*
Alright, here we go...
Next week the House will be debating letting some of the provisions of the Patriot Act expire....which the President and most of the Republicans DO NOT want to happen...
The dems line of attack will be the loss of privacy, civil liberties, blah, blah---and they will contend that the Patriot Act HAS NOT made us safer...
BUT, they have a problem, because I think some of the dems, like Biden and others that are planning on a POTUS run, might jump on this camera idea...
NOW, how could the dems fight the Patriot Act, but back cameras on every street corner?
Why do they call them security cameras? They provide no security. They MIGHT help catch the perps after the fact, but they certainly don't prevent the crime in the first place.
And when the crime is a suicide bomber they are useless.
Without cameras, the FBI figured out who hijacked the 9/11 planes almost as quickly, (within days), and without the tip off from a mother of one of the bombers calling in looking for her son.
Boy, that's for sure! And you've used exactly the right word; "feminized". Western culture is now, fully, passive aggressive and we're gonna' pay for it.
...and the likes of the ACLU will say that the RIGHTS of the murderous bomber terrorists have been violated by spy cameras....
And after six months?
ISNS.....
IPIX.....
They did a great job of preventing the attack.
Excellent point. The London Attacks are a prime example of why neither cameras nor Patriot Acts work (which the UK already doesn't need because of its lack of Constitutional protections). They already have far more authority to clamp down on speech, spy on citizens, detain, and prosecute citizens in secrecy.
The dems line of attack will be the loss of privacy, civil liberties, blah, blah---and they will contend that the Patriot Act HAS NOT made us safer...
Why aren't we talking about ridding ourselves of the threat instead of spying on our own people? We know that Muslims are doing this. Why do we need to circumvent our own Constitution? Inter, deport. But don't spy on all Americans because one ethnic group is infiltrating us.
Control Freaks can kiss off. These cameras provided no security whatsoever in this case.
B.F.D.! All of that info is useless if you aren't sure of what to look for.
If we're not careful, we'll end up losing more of our constitutional freedoms because we weren't willing to face the root causes of our vulnerability.
The main reason is, because in this Politically Correct United States---PCUS, we aren't "allowed" to profile, that is why!
The minute the authorities us profiling as a legitimate form of inspections, investigations, anything, the ACLU will get any convictions resulting from those, reversed in the liberal courts in this country...
THAT is also the main sticking point in border control---the PCUS won't allow us to "assume" that a person that is Mexican, and is trespassing, and loitering or worse, is a "illegal immigrant"...to the ACLU, that is not enough "cause" to arrest people along the southern border..
IMHO, if our authorities or even just us regular Americans, could profile as we "watch out for suspcious actions", we wouldn't need as many other aspects of the Patriot Act.
I agree, I have no problems with profiling.
I would rather face the added risk than feel the security of knowing my government was watching my every move. I'm funny that way, I wish more freedom loving Americans felt the same.
While govt. video camera's may help identify the badguys after a kamikaze jihadi attack they don't do doodly squat to stop them & they certainly don't keep the Imam's from preaching death to the infidels in the mosque followed by lessons on the care & feeding of your ak-47 or bombmaking 101.
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