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Police Cars To Transmit Real-Time Video
Hugh Pickens writes "In the first such system deployed in the country, police vehicles in Ponca City, Oklahoma will have wireless video cameras installed so precinct dispatchers and supervisors can monitor activities during traffic stops in real time, and quickly deploy additional officers and resources if necessary. The system to provide an added level of monitoring and protection for its force is part of a broadband mesh network comprised of more than 490 wireless nodes and gateways connected to 120 miles of fiber backbone that will provide coverage for approximately 30 square miles of the city. The network will provide field communications for city services including police, fire and emergency, parks and recreation, public works and energy, but will also be used to provide free wireless internet access for all residents of the city. 'The testing of this network showed that it was robust enough to handle not only municipal traffic, but also citizens' traffic.' said Mayor Homer Nicholson. 'So the Ponca City Board of Commissioners voted to allow the extra internet access to be given to the citizens of Ponca City for free.' The second phase of the project will expand the network and wireless coverage to more than 430 square miles surrounding the city with an estimated annual cost savings of over $1 million for city residents, who can discontinue their existing internet service. 'Our goal is to be one of the most mobile communities in America, and this is a significant step in that direction,' said Nicholson."
I say this is a good thing, but we shouldn't stop there. I'd say everyone's car should have [hidden] video cameras...
Anything that happens on public ground, especially involving public servants (i.e. police), should be considered to be recorded by the public. Privacy in public is an outdated concept, and has never truly existed anyways (so give it up). Someone will be watching -- the question is, is everyone watching, or is it a one-sided situation (like the CCTV system in the UK)?
Events taking place on public ground should never come down to "his word vs. mine." In cases where this involves police, then the police officers' word is always given more credit than the citizens'. Now while this is probably a reasonable bias to have, it neglects the fact that police officers are just humans too, and are themselves just as influenced by biases as anyone else. Video recordings have no bias...
This is essentially becoming a reality, especially considering that most everyone's phone has a camera. Let's see what happens the next time there is an instance of abuse of authority, say during a traffic stop or what-have-you...
As Marge Simpson said...
You know, the courts may not be working any more, but as long as everyone is videotaping everyone else, justice will be done.
"why would they want to turn off the camera?"
There are lots of good reasons. What do you do when you're called to a traffic accident on the freeway and your car is blocking traffic for six hours with the lights on? Multiply that by the three or four cars that respond and note that our system records both the forward view out the windshield and the in-car (facing backseat) camera, that's a lot of footage of nothing. Yes, "storage is cheap" but when you consider an indefinite retention period and a discoverable chain of custody, it's very expensive relative to the budget of the average department.
I like the system in the cars my department has. It starts recording when you hit RECORD or active the overheads. When it starts recording, it automatically saves the 60 seconds immediately prior to the activation event. When you turn the lights off or hit STOP, it will keep recording for 45 seconds and then really stop. Thus for each activation event you're going to get a minimum of 1:45 recorded, including a full minute before you hit the lights. This look back feature really helps to put recordings in their proper context.
While you certainly can stop recording at any time, it's going to look really bad if you've always recorded your stops to completion and then a nasty allegation is made against you at the same event where you hit STOP right in the middle of the contact.
Incidentally our systems are tape-free. Each car has a WiFi antenna and it will automatically upload any new files when the car drives into one of several zones in the city. For example, there's a WiFi zone at the service garage pumps and in the station lot. However, the cameras also pipe a feed to the MDT which is connected to the network through a Verizon Air Card. Even though it's not streaming video, dispatch does have the ability to pull up real-time video from any car. It works well for our purposes, and probably a lot cheaper than the solution this town is looking at.