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November 21, 2004
Chicago Unveils Hi-Tech Surveillance System
As interesting as this story is, the "wrapper" is just as interesting. This is a web site for police officers and the 'targetted' web ads are very interesting. It really gives you a feel for the context of the piece and how unlikely that it would be critical of new tools for policing.Officer.com News Article: NEWS: Chicago Unveils Hi-Tech Surveillance System
Chicagoans may soon be the most watched urbanites in the world, as the city rolls out a new surveillance system that will allow a high-tech hookup from thousands of cameras across the city to a central operations center.
Further down in the story you can read about the number of cameras and the coverage they anticipate. While 250 cameras sounds like a lot, Chicago is a big place. I wonder how the displacement effect will be felt?
Another interesting feature is the ability of the system to alert operators and pan/zoom cameras based on sounds (like gun fire). This is not something that I have seen or heard of before on surveillance systems in Canada. In most cases audio is not part of the system, probably for a host of legal reasons. But if the audio is just triggering cameras and not being recorded it may be able to avoid the 'wire tapping' legislation.
The camera then actually sensed the source of the gunshots and zoomed in on the subject who had intentionally fired the gun on a nearby basketball court for purposes of the demonstration.
Posted by Richard Smith at November 21, 2004 01:38 PM