surveillance cams are watching (still)

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

 ux10.sp.cs.cmu.edu
From: Bradley Malin <malin () cs cmu edu>

Interesting read.  You should check out the link too for sample images
(;->)  I think one of my favorite quotes from this article is:

"Law enforcement officials said there is no firm evidence suggesting
surveillance cameras have lowered crime rates. But many believe they act
as a deterrent."

-brad

http://www.delawareonline.com/newsjournal/local/2004/02/23lotsofcameraswa.html

Lots of cameras watch you - and catch criminals
Police say surveillance video captures your image about 12 times each day
By TERRI SANGINITI
Staff reporter
02/23/2004

Surveillance cameras no longer are relegated to banks and convenience
stores. They are in bars and supermarkets, over highways and in buses.
They seem to be everywhere: recording images blurry and crisp, often with
the date and time clearly displayed.

The average American is captured on video about a dozen times a day,
police estimate. And that has caused video surveillance cameras to become
an increasingly important law enforcement tool in Delaware and across the
country. From crimes committed in a crowded bank to those pulled off on a
desolate street corner, police now routinely look into whether there was a
camera near the crime scene.

Earlier this month, police captured a man accused of kidnapping and
killing an 11-year-old Sarasota, Fla., girl after video taken by a
surveillance camera at a Florida car wash was broadcast. Someone
recognized the man leading the girl away.

"When video evidence clearly depicts the identity of the perpetrator, the
case is less likely to go to trial because it is much more likely the
perpetrator will plead guilty," state prosecutor Steven P. Wood said.

Often, surveillance images are being used by police for purposes that
weren't intended by those who installed the cameras.

Paul Ford, assistant systems safety and security manager for DART, said
the state equipped each of the agency's 190 buses with cameras to
discourage bogus claims in liability cases. Each bus has five cameras
monitoring the inside and outside the bus. Police quickly saw the value in
them, Ford said.

DART has had about 10 requests from police departments asking if the
agency had a bus in the area when a crime occurred. "We determine what bus
was involved, go out and hook up a laptop, and have video of the location
and time frame they're looking for," Ford said.

Last fall, a 21-year-old woman allegedly was raped in a Newark motel room
by a man she met on a DART bus. Newark police quickly arrested a suspect
using images from one of the bus cameras.

Most retailers have installed cameras to cut down on shoplifting and
employee theft. But police often scan the images when investigating more
serious crimes.

Cameras at a Lowe's Home Improvement store in Dover captured the images of
two men buying 15 feet of chain last September. The tape proved to be key
in finding the man police have charged with killing Kimberly Holton, a
16-year-old whose body was found in the Atlantic Ocean off Cape May bound
in chains.

In some cases, cameras have helped rule out the possibility of a crime.
When an 88-year-old man was found dead outside the Claymont Community
Center last month, police determined he had fallen. The fall and his
subsequent struggle for life in the cold weather were captured on a
community center surveillance camera.

Lt. Robert Moses, of the state police High Technology Crimes Unit, said
the growing number of cameras in stores and banks appears to have caused
more criminals to wear masks and bandannas. But it doesn't worry him.

"The bottom line is, even though he's wearing a mask, there's still
somebody that can identify him from the way he walks, his mannerisms,
clothing or characteristics," Moses said.

Systems more affordable

The price of the typical surveillance system has declined dramatically in
recent years, making the systems affordable to mom-and-pop stores and
others who once would have considered the equipment a luxury, said Grant
Fredericks, forensic video analyst with Avid Technology Inc. in Tewksbury,
Mass.

In 1997 and 1998, the price of a four-camera video system was between
$3,000 and $8,000, Fredericks said. A better version of the same system
now could cost as little as $250, he said.

U.S. sales of surveillance cameras have increased from $1.04 billion in
2001 to $1.63 billion projected for 2005, said Richard Chace, spokesman
for the Security Industry Association, Alexandria, Va.

The proliferation of the cameras, and the evolution of the technology
behind them, has posed challenges for police departments. Some find their
resources are being taxed trying to keep up with the amount of potential
evidence, experts said.

Moses said the workload of his state unit, which conducts forensic
analysis on computer and video evidence in a Dover laboratory, has surged
since it took on video analysis less than two years ago. The unit handled
90 video cases in its first full year of operation last year.

The county's workload has grown, too. Since June 2002, there have been 135
cases in which video equipment was used to aid in investigations, county
police spokesman Cpl. Trinidad Navarro said.

The state and county police are the only two agencies in the state with
the high-tech equipment needed to enhance video evidence. Both agencies
are called upon frequently to assist other municipalities in the state as
well as police agencies in the region.

Moses said the recent surge in the use of digital surveillance cameras has
posed a problem. Unlike videotape, digital video cannot be magnified and
adjusted for brightness and contrast or converted into still photographs
on the department's equipment. It has to be converted to video, which can
be time-consuming. Also, the variety of digital technology has complicated
analysis.

"There are literally hundreds of different formats," said state police
Detective Daniel Willey.

There is no universal digital software program to view the various
systems, police said. Fredericks, who teaches forensic video at the FBI
Academy, said he believes the problems with digital video will be resolved
in the next few years.

Cameras a deterrent

Law enforcement officials said there is no firm evidence suggesting
surveillance cameras have lowered crime rates. But many believe they act
as a deterrent.

More than 100 cameras have been trained on downtown Wilmington for the
past three years in a video safety partnership among businesses, police
and a private nonprofit group.

"In the past year, our arrest stats have begun to decrease. Our true goal
was to act as a deterrent, but the good thing that is occurring is that
people are generally feeling safer downtown," said Marty Hageman,
executive director of Downtown Visions.

Hageman said since its April 2001 inception, Downtown Visions' cameras
have assisted paramedics, fire departments or police 374 times. In the
last three years, the Visions staff assisted in 122 arrests in the 69
blocks the program covers downtown, Hageman said.

Since 1998, nine security cameras, monitored 16 hours a day at police
headquarters, have kept an eye on street activity at high-crime corners in
the city's Northeast and Eastside neighborhoods. Wilmington police would
not release information on the number of arrests made as a result of
monitoring the bank of color TVs in the police communications room.

"Our vice units use them very well and we make a lot of arrests," said
Capt. Victor Ayala, who heads the communications center.

Lisa C. White, 34, a homemaker from the city's Union Park Gardens
neighborhood, said she feels safer when she is downtown because of the
cameras' eyes.

"One of the safest places on the planet is Disney World, and that's
because everyone knows there are cameras everywhere and there's always
somebody watching," White said.

Business owners also said the cameras increase their sense of security.
The Deer Park Tavern in Newark installed a digital video surveillance
system 2 1/2 years ago, manager Ray Searles said.

"We do use it and the Newark police have used it," Searles said. "It works
great" as a crime deterrent.

But not everyone is as enthusiastic about the growing use of surveillance
cameras. Some argue the cameras pose a threat to privacy.

"It's easy to say, 'Look, we caught two criminals today.' But they can
also say, 'I watched you buy condoms the other day,' or, 'I watched you
get into the car with somebody else's wife,' " said attorney Lawrence
Hamermesh, a board member with the American Civil Liberties Union of
Delaware.

"Even if it did eliminate one threat or incident, is it worth it to give
up rights that we used to care about?"

Legal experts said there is no expectation of privacy on a public street
or in a public setting such as a store. But ACLU Delaware chapter
executive director Drewry Fennell said cameras are becoming so
sophisticated that what one thinks of as a public place is going to change
when police can see into almost any building with clarity.

"The technology is ahead of the law," Fennell said.

Reach Terri Sanginiti at 324-2771 or tsanginiti () delawareonline com.

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