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The DEA and ICE Are Hiding Surveillance Cameras In Streetlights (qz.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the hide-and-seek dept.

According to federal contracting documents, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have hidden an undisclosed number of covert surveillance cameras inside streetlights around the country. Quartz reports: According to government procurement data, the DEA has paid a Houston, Texas company called Cowboy Streetlight Concealments LLC roughly $22,000 since June 2018 for "video recording and reproducing equipment." ICE paid out about $28,000 to Cowboy Streetlight Concealments over the same period of time. It's unclear where the DEA and ICE streetlight cameras have been installed, or where the next deployments will take place. ICE offices in Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio have provided funding for recent acquisitions from Cowboy Streetlight Concealments; the DEA's most recent purchases were funded by the agency's Office of Investigative Technology, which is located in Lorton, Virginia. "We do streetlight concealments and camera enclosures," Christie Crawford, who owns Cowboy Streetlight Concealments with her husband, told Quartz. "Basically, there's businesses out there that will build concealments for the government and that's what we do. They specify what's best for them, and we make it. And that's about all I can probably say."

5 of 158 comments (clear)

  1. State and country violations abound! by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 4, Insightful

    When it comes to installing equipment on telephone poles and street lights, it's all tightly regulated. If they are doing this without any notification then they are likely violating multiple city/county regulations and state laws.

    Food for thought.

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    Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
    1. Re:State and country violations abound! by Darinbob · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Generally cities own the streetlights. They have to repair them over time so they would notice. Many cities are moving to add sensors and the like to save money, so someone would notice soon enough. So if there are cameras I suspect that there's an agreement about them.

      Note that there are cameras on or near traffic lights even when not used to catch those who run the lights. Many are being used to count cars to estimate traffic patterns.

    2. Re:State and country violations abound! by lgw · · Score: 3, Insightful

      If your city actually fixes streetlights when their out, it's doing OK. It has its pension costs under control. Good on em. Last city I lived in in California just turned them all off to save money. Of course, that led to people stealing the copper out of the street lights, so a huge net loss long term, but that's Cali for you. (Fremont eventually gave in and fired a couple of government workers, the horror, and was back in the business of street lights and even filling pot holes, but it took years.)

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      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
  2. Surveillance by markdavis · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It is bad enough to have a surveillance state. I understand the need for security cameras, general traffic cameras, and even SOME surveillance cameras. But I personally draw the line at *concealed* cameras [and microphones]. I don't think they have any place in a free society... public or private, government or business. Government wants one installed? Get probable cause, get a time-limited warrant, they must be temporary and have a clear, present, and provable objective.

  3. Talk about treason... by edris90 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    We ought to string up the owners of this company by the nearest tree. And others who runs similar companies. This is clear betrayal against their fellow Americans for financial interest. Everyone e who lives in the USA knows we're in a cold war with our own government. Just a matter of time before it heats up