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Police getting real-time access to private security cameras in downtown Grand Rapids
GRAND RAPIDS, MI — Downtown businesses are giving area law enforcement agencies greater access to private video surveillance feeds under a new push to increase real-time monitoring capabilities in Grand Rapids.
Jack Stewart, Kent County emergency management coordinator, said the Grand Rapids Police and Kent County Sheriff’s departments are increasing access to the downtown surveillance apparatus under a new public-private partnership program.
The two agencies are tapping into private video feeds from existing cameras mounted on the exterior of private commercial buildings downtown, he said.
Previously, police would request video from private feeds during the course of a criminal investigation. Now, police will be able to monitor the feeds in real time from county and city dispatch centers.
“This is the same technology that helped catch the Boston Marathon bombers,” said Stewart. “This is not day-to-day monitoring. It’s just in the event of an emergency. There would have to be an event serious enough to trigger us to monitor the cameras.”
The program, which Stewart said is pursuing federal Dept. of Homeland Security grants to expand the surveillance capability downtown with new and upgraded equipment, has been in the works for several years.
“Some of the cameras are hooked-up already, but we’d like to offer to enhance and expand to other businesses and facilities that want to hook-up to the project,” said Stewart about uses for the possible grant money.
The program is a response to increasing activity in the downtown area, and disclosure of the project follows a pair of downtown shootings this month that have caused Grand Rapids police to step up their presence in the district.
Shots fired outside McFadden’s Saloon on June 15, and the shooting of a two teenagers downtown on June 18 after the Bruno Mars concert are “good examples” of when the technology would be used, said Stewart.
Large events like ArtPrize or the Fifth Third River Bank Run are also examples of when real time monitoring would be useful, he said.
Stewart said there are roughly 100 exterior video cameras right now that are or could be accessed under the program, many of them concentrated around government and critical infrastructure buildings.
Non-disclosure agreements precluded Stewart from naming specific businesses participating in the program, but some were willing to disclose that on their own.
Cameras mounted on Amway Hotel Corporation properties downtown are part of the program, according to Amway Corp. representatives.
Spectrum Health is also participating.
“We think it’s a good idea,” said Bruce Rossman, spokesperson for Spectrum. “Our people have been at the table since the beginning.”
Rossman said the attitude at Spectrum is that the program will help improve safety and security in the downtown area as well as providing “another layer to keep our own patients and staff safer.”
BarFly Ventures, the parent company for Arena District bars McFadden’s, HopCat, Stella’s Lounge and the Grand Rapids Brewing Co., is still evaluating whether to provide access to its cameras, said owner Mark Sellers.
Stewart said the program is limited to outdoor surveillance only, and monitoring of public areas where “there’s no expectation of privacy.”
“I’m not aware of any plan to do surveillance on indoor cameras,” he said.
Private participation in the program is voluntary, he said. Businesses or entities that wish to opt-out are free to do so at any time.
http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2014/06/police_getting_real-time_acces.html
Welcome to the surveillance state--
‘SMART’ STREET LIGHTS TO “TRACK EVERYTHING WE DO ALL THE TIME”
CBS News report touts benefits of new LED technology
Smart street lights that “track everything we do all the time” are on the horizon according to a CBS News report which touted the environmental benefits of new LED systems that also feature an array of surveillance capabilities.
The lights are being marketed as a fantastic energy saving device because they have motion sensors which detect foot traffic, allowing them to switch on and off only when required.
A CBS News report showcases the smart lights in action at Newark Airport and at an underground parking lot, while imagining that all 4 billion outside street lights may eventually all be “connected in one global network.”
A “seamless grid” of smart lights networked with surveillance cameras also provides security for a parking lot outside a Silicon Valley building, tracking an individual’s “every move” while also utilizing license plate recognition technology to store data about vehicles.
“The future is limitless for this technology,” asserts Shorenstein Engineering manager Kevin Kirk.
“In the future, the smart network could track every place we go, everything we buy, everything we do all the time,” states reporter Bill Whitaker.
Responding to the charge that such a scenario “sounds Orwellian,” Hugh Martin, Chairman and CEO of Sensity Systems, cited the necessity to protect schools by using the smart system to detect guns, while denying that the technology was racing ahead of policy makers’ ability to control its reach.
What the CBS report failed to mention is that some of the “high-tech add ons” being included in smart street lights include technology that can record conversations.
Last year we reported on how Illuminating Concepts, the company behind Intellistreets, bragged on their website that their smart LED system, which is being rolled out in major cities like Las Vegas, has the capability of analyzing voices and tracking people, features that will aid the Department of Homeland Security in “protecting its citizens.”
A page on the Intellistreets website (since removed) which highlighted “benefits and applications” featured a section on security admitting that the hi-tech system includes “voice stress analyzers,” amongst several other sophisticated sensors that “assist DHS in protecting its citizens and natural resources.”
Authorities in New York City announced last year that they would be replacing the city’s 250,000 street lights with new LEDs by 2017, although it is not known how many of these will feature “smart” technology.
While the CBS report raises a few token privacy questions, the tone of the piece is undoubtedly positive, touting the brightness, longevity, security and environmental benefits of the new street lights. At the end of the report, one of the studio anchors alongside Charlie Rose glibly exclaims, “Big Brother is watching,” as if it’s a good thing.
http://www.infowars.com/smart-street-lights-to-track-everything-we-do-all-the-time/
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