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Portable Surveillance Towers Now Popping Up in Ohio

The Ohio Department of Public Safety has just purchased two portable video surveillance towers for use at large events such as the Ohio State Fair and concerts.  According to The Columbus Dispatch, the towers are equipped with five surveillance cameras, spotlights, loudspeakers and a radar system.  Flir Systems Inc., the manufacturer of the surveillance towers, say they offer a “completely customized surveillance platform suitable for high-level, temporary security ventures, providing a bird’s-eye view of the surrounding area.”

Surveillance systems such as these, with high-end audio and video camera systems, are popping up all over the country at state fairs, concerts, beach parties, community events, campaign rallies, and sports events, to name just a few. Our own employee spotted one here in Los Angeles at a business complex near the Santa Monica ocean recently.



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Lawmakers Demanding More Surveillance Across the Country

Following the tragic and deadly terrorist bombings in Boston, lawmakers across the country are demanding more surveillance in our major cities.  In an article posted by Keith Proctor on CNN Money, he talks about how citizens and lawmakers alike value their own personal safety over privacy, but, “…when  you see someone maimed by bomb shrapnel, privacy concerns sound coldly abstract.”

Homeland Security, on the other hand, have drastically been cutting down on state grants that would enable more surveillance equipment to go up.  Due to this, companies like Lockheed Martin are doing more with less by drastically improving surveillance technology, creating the “video analytic” system, which analyzes surveillance footage entirely by using artifical intelligence.



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Missing Evidence

Video evidence is one of the most useful tools in court. You can’t make a case much stronger if there is clear video camera footage of an individual committing, or not committing, a crime. But, as we have learned from our experiences at NCAVF, video evidence is rarely such a cut and dry case. Often evidence is mishandled before it makes it to court.

Last October in Vermont, a man refused to pay for his cab ride and pulled a gun on the driver. James Franqueira was charged with second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, and two counts of menacing.

On the day of the trial, after it had been declared there was no video evidence, DA Richard McNally went over to collect files from the police department, where he found a recording of Franqueira taken by a nearby Valvoline. The video footage clearly showed Franqueira committing a crime, however he was awarded a mistrial.

The mistrial means that the trial process will have to start again, which will be costly for everyone involved.



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NYPD Suddenly Doesn’t Love Surveillance So Much

In New York City, the public is demanding that the NYPD be put under the same surveillance that the majority of citizens are subject to.  But Mayor Michael Bloomberg and police commissioner Raymond Kelly are leading an on-going campaign to prevent surveillance of the police, claiming that putting police officers under surveillance could actually endanger citizens.

Salon.com’s David Sirota claims that if anything, having police under surveillance will keep them honest and ensure that they are protecting individuals’ civil liberties, seeing as police brutality cases are becoming more and more common.

As this on-going fight rages on, check back with the NCAVF for updates on the newest in audio and video surveillance policy and high definition video technology.


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Little Canada Man Video Confiscated by Police

Twincities.com just published an article about Andrew Henderson, a Little Canada, MN. resident who recorded two Ramsey County police deputies as they were assisting a bloody-faced man outside of his apartment. Henderson states that he was thirty feet away, not causing any harm when deputy Jacqueline Muellner snatched the camera out of his hands and closed the video portion of the recording (the audio was left on).

The audio footage recorded Henderson calmly stating that he was not doing anything illegal, and that it’s completely legal to record video in public space. In fact, he says it was illegal for the policewoman to take his camera from him.

Nevertheless, Henderson is being charged with obstruction of legal process and disorderly conduct. It should be an interesting case to follow, and may have implications on the larger conversation about video recording police in public spaces.


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