News 10 in Calfornia has an interesting story about surveillance cameras and license plate readers co-funded by homeland security at the Arden Fair Mall.

SACRAMENTO, CA – Homeland Security funds have poured into the state of California since the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

According to the Center for Investigative Reporting, California counties have received almost $2 billion in anti-terrorism grants. Sacramento County has received $79 million.

Arden Fair Mall Security Chief Steve Reed said he's received $100,000 in federal funds. The money has gone toward two high-tech surveillance systems.

"This actually enables us to record data with our 142 cameras that mall purchased for $1.5 million," Reed said. "That money came from mall management, but it enabled me to tie the cameras into a system the federal government paid for."

Reed showed off that system set up in two offices at Arden Fair Mall in Sacramento. "We have a set of eyes here and another one if I'm watching in my office. And we have two more sets of eyes at the security information desk in the middle of the mall," he said.

Security officers watch escalators, stores, hallways, indoor and outdoor walkways and parking lots. "After a day of things that happen at the mall, if there's any footage that we need to retrieve, we can get it. We can give it to the appropriate law enforcement agency if they need it," Reed explained.

Security officers can zoom in and make hard copies of closeups. They can also record images onto a disk.

"We've been able to reduce crimes significantly and record slip and falls," Reed said. "If there's any kind of maintenance or safety issues we can take care of them because we see every nook and cranny at the mall which covers 77 acres."

Reed spent the rest of the federal funds on license plate readers mounted on security vehicles. "Officers drive up and down our parking lots and structures taking pictures of license plates," he said. "Everyday we're able to download a list of plates from Sacramento police stolen car reports. If the reader sees that plate, it sounds an alarm and we can call the authorities."

According to Reed, since the system was installed, it has found 21 stolen vehicles and resulted in the arrest of 22 individuals.

Sacramento Regional Transit has received $2 million from Homeland Security, according to Doug Voska, a Sacramento police officer who is under contract to RT. He runs the transit system's Video Control Center.

Like the mall, Voska has officers peering at screens attached to security cameras located at light rail stations and on board train cars.

"Prior to this, we had a piece-meal camera system with a few cameras here and there," said Voska. "Now we have a much better system and we can monitor each camera live as it sees what's happening now. And we can prevent any acts of terrorism and crimes."

Voska said officers can quickly be dispatched to the scene if problems arise.

"Part of the Homeland Security funding also provided for a public awareness campaign," Voska said. "Signs are posted telling passengers about the surveillance and how they can help us and protect the transit system."

Voska added that public response has been positive. "It not only makes them feel safer. They know they're actually safer," he said.

This chief of security is a pretty sharp guy.  He's got the 77 acres covered and is claims the technology is helping in the following areas:

• Reduction of crime in "slip and falls"
• Can easily spot maintenace issues
• 21 stolen vehicles were identified, police were called and 22 criminals were arrested
• Officers can be dispatched to the scene much quicker
• Citizens not only feel safer, they are safer
• They can prevent crimes and terrorism

Besides for the crazy comment on preventing terrorism, the system at Arden Fair Mall sounds quite effective in a few areas.  The reduction in claims for "slip and falls" can have a positive effect on the court system, and their use of  license plate scanning has proven to be highly effective.  This news article is reinforcing the fact that parking lot cameras can be highly effective with the correct technologies and practices.

It's my belief private cameras in private spaces are much more effective than public cameras in public places.  Since the police and legal system can do their job much more effectively with evidence from the cameras, the Arden Fair Mall is a shining example of a public-private success story.

Related:
Mall Tip Leads Police To Stolen Car
Arden Fair Mall's new camera system thwarts car thieves

In an move that will be inevitable for taxis everywhere, the city of Glasgow is making it mandatory for all taxi cabs to have surveillance cameras.   According to The Herald:

Passengers hiring any of the 1000-plus fleet of taxis in Scotland's largest city could soon be caught on CCTV, amid concerns of potential legal action due to infringement of civil liberties and human rights.

The move, which is designed to enhance the safety of both drivers and the public, could be implemented by the end of the year and extended into the hundreds of private hire cars also operating in Glasgow.

The use of CCTV cameras and recording equipment would bring Glasgow into line with Manchester, Liverpool, Gateshead and London, as well as East Renfrewshire Council, the first authority in Scotland to permit their use.

It comes on the back of a recent survey, carried out by the Scottish Government, which found one in three taxi drivers has been assaulted at work and the case of John Worboys, the London taxi driver, recently jailed for drugging female passengers by spiking champagne and then sexually assaulting them.

The council said: "The installation of CCTV equipment in taxis and private hire cars may increase the sense of safety felt by passengers and drivers. Installation may also have a positive impact on reducing crime and antisocial behaviour. However, images captured must be stored in a way which maintains the integrity of the image.

"Protection to passengers and drivers due to the installation of CCTV cameras must be balanced against the potential infringement of civil liberties and human rights by the recording of a person's activities."

Trials in East Renfrewshire were carried out earlier this year, including one in the cab of a driver who had been the subject of a serious assault while working in January.

When a vehicle was fitted with a CCTV system, orange A5-size warning notices were fixed to the vehicle and the drivers asked to ensure that all passengers travelling in their vehicles were informed of the operation of the CCTV system.

No complaints have been received about the use of the systems and the council claims the scheme appears to have been welcomed.

But Robert Dunabie, of Glasgow TOA Taxis said: "This is an advantageous scheme for drivers and passengers. It will improve the overall feeling of security within the cab but it would have to be a system which drivers could not tamper with."

Taxi cabs are a logical place to install surveillance cameras.  As the article states, the purpose of the cameras is to keep both the driver and passenger safe from anti-social behaviour.  In the close quarters of a taxi cab, these cameras have the potential to deter bad behaviour and can provide valuable insight into certain situations.

In NYC, Mayor Bloomberg forced taxi drivers to install real-time credit card systems which also serve a second purpose – to track and record movements of taxi drivers.  In one case, a man left his violin behind, called 311, and the taxi was tracked using GPS

Because of the new Global Positioning System technology installed in cabs, customers no longer need to remember the medallion number in case they lose an object. Instead, the commission can figure out from its records which cab took the customer along a given route, Mr. Daus said.

Finding the violin took less than an hour. The cabdriver — who had gone home to New Jersey — hadn’t yet realized the instrument was in his car, said Matthew W. Daus, the chairman of the Taxi and Limousine Commission.

“We cut the driver out of the picture,” he said. “This is kind of a first in that respect.”

These combined technologies – surveillance cameras, credit card transactions, and GPS will provide trackability and evidence in case anything bad happens during the ride.  When cities pass laws that require business owners to own and maintain surveillance cameras, the taxpayer does not usually foot the bill and is able to reap the benefits of the installation. For this reason I am a big fan of these public-private initiatives.

In this entertaining but silly clip, a child was wrongly given a library card to the Tatamy public library.  When the summer reading series began, he was photographed, put in the paper, and thats when the investigation began:

Dominick led a parade of other kids around the library, a planned activity, and got his picture in the Allentown paper. The photographer included Dominick's hometown — Tatamy — in the caption; that's where the trouble started.

You see, Tatamy residents aren't part of the Nazareth library system. They're part of the Easton Area Public Library system.

A library employee checked Dominick's address after seeing his photo in the paper, then called and left a message on the family's answering machine with the news, Melissa Philip says.

I think we can all feel bad for the little boy, but this incident falls into the framework of recommendations I created for cities to adopt.  In this case, a journalist took a picture, the picture was distributed through a media channel (in this case a newspaper), and an identification was made. It was soon discovered that due to human error, this boy should not have been given a card to the Tatamy library to begin with.  Unfortunately, I'm going to have to classify this one as a public-private success story.

There is a silver lining to this story – the boy can now use his library card until the end of the year.

Cops: Fla. slaying suspects didn't expect cameras

Melanie and Byrd Billings, known for adopting a large brood of children with special needs, were shot to death about a week ago. An extensive surveillance system captured footage of masked men — some dressed as ninjas — slipping into front and back doors at the home and stealing a safe, among other items.

The men were in the nine-bedroom house for just four minutes and on the property for 10, Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan said. Video captured during that time led investigators to a red van used as a getaway car and eventually to the suspects.

Morgan said investigators have been pondering "the huge gap" in what was otherwise a precise, methodical crime for which the suspects had trained 30 days. They were a loosely connected group of mostly day laborers who knew each other through a power washing business and an auto detailing operation.

"The execution was basically flawless," Morgan said. "The one gaping hole that would not have made this a perfect operation, if you will, was the fact that the surveillance system was not disabled. I guess the question was why was it not?"

Cameras played a pivotal role in the apprehension efforts.  The private cameras had enough resolution to see their large red getaway van in the distance.  The police searched their records for this large red van, and were able to track down this ruthless group of murderers.  Thankfully these criminals did not disable the cameras which was part of their plan.

Here is another good video

By registering on the NSW police website, local business owners will not only provide potentially crime-solving footage to police, but they will also cut the time it takes for officers to retrieve footage from locations where a crime has been committed.

CCTV (closed-circuit television) details will be stored on a secure central database that will allow police to map their locations throughout the state.

Officers will then be able to easily access footage after a crime is committed by contacting any registered business owners in the relevant area.
“Obviously CCTV can be crucial in identifying offenders and can assist police in solving crimes,” Snr Const Eppelstun said. “A lot of businesses have their own CCTV footage, and these are the ones we want to capture, which would be of huge assistance to local police.

“It is an investigative tool that allows police to quickly identify CCTV installations in the area of a crime and give them the ability to contact owners and have the potentially crime-solving footage saved without having to engage in time-consuming doorknocking and chasing up the footage.”

This idea has been on my mind for a while and I'm happy to see that New South Wales not only thought about it, but are actually implementing this program.  Many cities force landlords to register their tenant information which is usually called "rental registration".  Cities even charge the landlord to fill out these yearly forms and have turned this function into a profit center.

America is not learning from our international neighbors.  We have no public policies regarding how cities can spend and implement CCTV surveillance systems and in many (if not all) cases, these "social experiments" are a bad use of taxpayer dollars. We are spending collectively hundreds of millions if not billions on ineffective surveillance systems.  The DHS has also jumped on the bandwagon giving out funds which will foster many more of these systems.  While the ACLU points out these systems intrude on privacy, the point of this blog is to help the private and public sector create more effective systems.

America's impending "surveillance state" is inevitable, it doesn't mean the taxpayers need to fund these systems.  Here are a few ideas for communities to follow to have an extremely effective surveillance system without passing the cost onto the taxpayer or create a massive embarrasment like the city of New Orleans

1. Pass ordinances that require businesses to install digital surveillance systems that are accessible through the internet so the police can access them remotely
2. Pass ordinances that require businesses and residents to register their cameras with location information (Possibly even at a federal level)
3. Modify your city's crime reporting standards

Continue reading surveillance education

www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkbqn11u6Nw

According to The Desert Sun:

Officials hope the video will spark somebody's memory and help catch the person involved in the April 5 fire.

“This person knew what he was doing,” said Division Chief Ray Paiz with Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire Department. “We've got to get this guy off the street.”

The video, posted Monday, shows a man with a dark hooded sweatshirt spraying the west side of the building with an accelerant.
He then throws what appears to be a Molotov cocktail — a glass bottle filled with a combustible liquid and a lighted wick — at the building, causing it to ignite into flames.

This is a great trend for cities and police departments to continue with.  While it's uncertain who started this movement, many police departments have turned to youtube including the Salt Lake City Police Department.

Google and Youtube can be an incredible tool for investigation and apprehension efforts. However, it will take the efforts of all the collective police departments to get on board so citizens can help in the identification efforts.

Police departments should also modify their crime reporting standards so citizens and other cities can fully understand just how effective the collective efforts of both the private and public sector surveillance initiatives are. These reporting standards also include measuring the effectiveness of media campaigns such as posting video clips on youtube.

Store surveillance video was used to help catch a suspect wanted in a shooting and robbery Saturday in Bertrand Township. Michigan State Police say an 80-year-old man went to help strangers who said they had car trouble and was instead shot. His wallet was stolen and the purchases were made with his credit cards.

Police say the suspect purchased prepaid credit cards and a flat-screen TV at Wal-Mart, and bought even more credit cards and a carton of cigarettes at Meijer.

South Bend Police tracked the vehicle's license plate to this home on the city's west side.

It seems lately that cameras have been picking up all sorts of crime at these big box stores. About 10 days ago, a Target store was set on fire and robbed allegedly by it's own employees. Another recent incident shows that a Wal-Mart security camera may have captured a missing Ohio toddler with a sex offender.

This is an interesting case because it uses cameras combined with credit card transactions as a tool to investigate and track down perps. Additionally the resolution on the cameras was good enough to get license plate numbers. Way to go Wal-Mart!

"Years ago, there's no way we could do this," said Keith Sadler, Lancaster's police chief. "It brings to mind Big Brother, George Orwell and '1984.' It's just funny how Americans have softened on these issues."

"No one talks about it," agreed Scott Martin, a Lancaster County commissioner who wants to expand the program. "Because people feel safer. Those who are law-abiding citizens, they don't have anything to worry about."

According to City Data, Lancaster's 2004 – 2007 crime counts have been on the rise. 2004 is when the first 70 cameras went live.

Officials explained the increase by saying cameras caught lesser offenses, such as prostitution and drunkenness, that otherwise often escape prosecution. The cameras also helped police capture and convict a murderer, and solve several other violent crimes.

Another local crime meeting last year urged an expansion of the video network, and the city and county governments agreed to share the $3-million cost with the coalition. Work crews are trying to connect 95 additional high-resolution cameras by mid-July.

"Per capita, we're the most watched city in the state, if not the entire United States," said Joseph Morales, a city councilman who is executive director of the coalition. "There are very few public streets that are not visible to our cameras."

If a camera records a crime in progress, the video is given to police and prosecutors, and may be subpoenaed by defense lawyers in a criminal case. More than 300 tapes were handed over last year, records show

It sounds like the city of Lancaster may have had some success here. 300 incidents were recorded and handed to to defense lawyers. I wonder how effective those recordings were? If Lancaster is declaring themselves the "highest CCTV camera per capita" capital, it would only make sense for them to enhance their reporting standards so that other towns and cities could understand just how effective their pricey monitoring scheme really is.