Security-eh

From the Globe and Mail in British Columbia:

The new security chief for the 2010 Winter Olympics wants a modest,
Canadian-style approach to keeping the Games safe and sound. "The public
doesn't want a cop on every corner. Nor do I," Assistant RCMP Commissioner Bud
Mercer said yesterday, during his second full day in a job that is crucial to
the success of the Vancouver Winter Games.

I think Beijing may have different plans.

Terrorists Get BATized on the Go

U.S. forces have some new tools at their disposal. The Biometrics Automated Toolset, or BAT for short, now includes lightweight portable units capable of scanning and identifying bad guys on the run...and in the blink of an eye.

With today’s technology, however, the size and weight of systems have been reduced, which means members of America’s armed forces are more willing to use them. Currently 735,000 detainees in Iraq have been entered into a BAT system that can be obtained quickly -- even in the field, Jones said. The system provides an opportunity for a soldier to check to see if a person caused problems before or was a suspect but released. […] Being small, portable and affordable, the GIs like the new biometric systems, which also are being used by military police, check point security guards, and base compound guards as a way to rapidly identify insurgents. The Language and Technology Office continues to look for additional systems that will provide other information to add to the BAT arsenal. When the office began a few years ago, there were three government employees and a few contractors. Now “we have three govs (government employees) and 60 contractors,” which shows the increased importance of biometrics, Jones said.

San Francisco Rail Agency Doubles Down on Surveillance

My hometown is looking to make another $5.4 million investment in cameras and surveillance infrastructure at the Bay Area Rapid Transit system, better known as BART.

BART will spend $5.4 million to upgrade and expand its security camera system to help protect Bay Area transit riders from terrorist attacks and everyday crimes, officials said Monday. The regional rail agency will deploy the cameras in stations, on the trains, along tracks, in the Transbay Tube, in parking lots and at other facilities. The new system will make use of sophisticated software that allows the cameras to detect such suspicious activity as an unattended backpack on a boarding platform or trespassers in areas off limits to the public.

Previous investments in cameras and recording equipment at BART are credited with a 98% drop in graffiti, and the prosecution of a variety of criminals, among other benefits.

Cameras have also helped solve crimes on transit systems. In August, for example, the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority used video footage to help find two suspects who assaulted a passenger. And earlier this month, cameras picked up people breaking into cars in BART's parking lot at the Coliseum/Oakland Airport Station. Police then apprehended the suspected culprits at the scene, Johnson said.

Despite privacy concerns, the investment will likely meet the approval of most Bay Area travelers who appreciate the benefits of genuine technology. And the new system is certainly far superior to BART’s other controversial anti-crime strategy…the slowing down transit thieves through the exclusive use of Susan B. Anthony and Sacajawea dollar coins in all transit ticketing and change machines.

Another Robbery in Soft Focus

These surveillance photos of a Wilmington robbery suspect just don’t do him justice.

Thief Targets Surveillance Company

A Charleston surveillance technology company was robbed yesterday morning despite cameras and bustling office activity.

"It's very brazen. He came in like 9:38 in the morning with people all over the place," said co-owner Grady Crunk. Crunk says the thief came in through the front door, sat on a couch, apparently plotting his next move. He then got up, went into a nearby room, grabbed a computer monitor and went outside. The burglar hid the monitor under some outside steps, then went back inside to look for more stuff to steal.

I guess not everyone is deterred by video cameras…that, of course, is why we elected to deploy armed robot sentries at 3VR.

McDonalds Using Surveillance to Control Shrinkage

If only their customers could do the same thing.

Grenades, a Bicycle, and the Cover of Darkness

Surveillance tapes will likely provide little help in determining the identity of culprits behind Thursday night's ‘grenade’ attack on the Mexican Consulate building in New York City. In circumstances eerily similar to a 2005 incident at the British Consulate, novelty grenades filled with explosives were thrown through windows at approximately 3:30AM. Thankfully, no one was hurt.

The detonation blew out several windows and sent debris flying into the building, located in the Murray Hill section at 27 E. 39th Street between Madison and Park avenues. […] Ramon Xilotl, Mexico's Consul General, tells CBS 2 that the early morning attack, which left explosive fragments on the sidewalk, broke three windows and was captured on surveillance video. "They showed the explosives but nobody is seen in the camera. But there is a witness that saw the individual," he said. (via WCBSTV.com, Video)

Like the 2005 attack at the British Consulate, a person on a bicycle was seen
peddling away from the explosion. Beyond that detail, however, meaningful
leads in the case are few and far between.

I find it somewhat amazing that in this time of heightened security and seemingly
ubiquitous surveillance a man on a bicycle can conduct an attack like this
without leaving behind so much as a single image. Perhaps the next consulate
will fare better.

New Tech Helps Fight California Wildfires

Firefighters in Southern California are using a new surveillance tool called 'FireWatch' in the area around Laguna Beach.

Using the solution, more than 20 square miles of highly vulnerable green belts, parks and open space that encircle the City are being covered by the network to monitor for fire in real-time.

“Our goal is to prevent and minimize wildfires out in the hard-to-spot areas before they can spread and destroy local residences and businesses,” said David Horne, founding chair of the Laguna Fire Safe Council and professor of marketing at California State University Long Beach. “With this network, we will have, for the first time, the ability to monitor the wilderness areas around the Laguna Canyon during high fire danger days and, hopefully, stop any fires before they cause damage to the community.”

Blackwater Request for Cameras...DENIED

Blackwater USA, a great American business success story and a company doing more than any other to protect American lives in Iraq, has recently come under political shelling for a September firefight that resulted in several Iraqi deaths. Though Blackwater claims the shootings were in self defense, and point to bullet holes in their vehicles as proof, the absence of any video of the incident has made it difficult for the security company to respond to accusations of being "trigger happy" and killing innocents. In partial response, the State Department will now require that all Blackwater convoys include video surveillance equipment. It’s interesting to note that over 2 years ago, Blackwater also requested convoy cameras over concerns that they might become the target of an enemy propoganda campaign…and was denied.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Oct. 5 ordered that video cameras and recording equipment be installed in convoy vehicles guarded by Blackwater USA. But according to internal Blackwater documents, the security firm asked the Department of State in May 2005 to install cameras in official U.S. motorcades
protected by its employees "in response to a false accusation against one of our
teams in Baghdad." The company considered the fact that that footage could be
used against it but decided in the end that the cameras and recording devices would work to its advantage and planned to use footage for training purposes.
Following the request, a former official with the Bureau of Diplomatic Security,
the Department of State's law-enforcement arm, contacted Blackwater and asked it to "stand down" due to unresolved legal issues. The matter was then dropped (Washington Times via Security Management Weekly).

For Those Who Like Their Robots Creepy

Engineer Max Denton has fabricated something that is sure be a big hit this holiday season. It's a six-legged face tracking robot he calls the 'Hexapod.'



It's reassuring to know that before they enslave us, our robot masters will at least be able to look us in the eyes.

Warrantless Surveillance Down Under

Via ABC News Australia:

Premier Morris Iemma says the new laws will give police greater power to
install, monitor and retrieve a range of surveillance devices. […] Under the
changes, police will be able to use surveillance devices without a warrant if
there is an imminent threat of serious violence to a person or substantial
damage to property.

SF Cameras Prove Innocence...69 Days Too Late

Despite a clear fascination with red light cameras and other video traffic tracking systems, San Francisco policy makers can’t quite figure out how to use city surveillance systems in the pursuit of actual criminals. Even worse, it seems, the city's backward policy now prevents the exoneration of the innocent.

Here is one case in point:

Butler and Dillon were positively identified by the robbery victims, according to the public defender's office. They were then booked for robbery and assault with intent to commit great bodily harm.

During Butler's primary court appearance a witness informed deputy public defender Eric Quant that she had been with Butler during the time of the robbery and that surveillance cameras at 16th and Mission streets could prove this.

Quant then requested copies of the tapes, but was denied because city policy restricts the release of the tapes. According to the public defender's office, Quant was informed that all tapes are erased after seven days.

He then requested that the Department of Emergency Management, which is in charge of the tapes, not erase them pending a formal request. The videotapes were reviewed and showed that Butler and Dillon were at the corner of 16th and Mission streets at the time of the robbery.

Charges for both men were dropped Oct. 16. Both men were imprisoned for 69 days before being released.

69 days? Really?

Worlds Dumbest Criminals (Liquor Store Edition)

Not So Fast Ontario

The $21 million Toronto Transit System is on hold after Privacy International filed a complaint with the city’s privacy commissioner. They believe “that the installation of cameras on the scale proposed by the TTC fundamentally violates privacy law.”

The TTC, which provides 1.4 million rides each weekday, is in the process of installing up to 10,000 security cameras in its buses, streetcars and subway system, adding to its current network of about 1,500 cameras. The system, which was approved by the TTC last spring and is expected to be operational by June, will be capable of snapping photos and recording video – and in some cases, audio – of any of the TTC's daily riders. The federal government kicked in $6.5 million for the project.

Like all previous attempts to slow and or block city camera implementations, this effort is probably doomed to failure.

TTC chairman Adam Giambrone defended the system today, saying the information is centrally collected and accessible only to police, and that the cameras are part of a larger security plan that involves such measures as increasing the number of transit constables. "We were the last of the major transit authorities in North America and Europe – who are way ahead – to install a major camera program," he said. "So clearly, the consensus out there is that this is a positive."

Given their track record and the inertia behind these urban camera rollouts, privacy advocates might want to try a new tact. Maybe…something like this or this.

Real Life James Bond

If you are into spy gadgets and other 007 goodness, look no further than the "CIA's Venture Fund" In-Q-Tel. The name is actually derived from the combination of the word "intel" and the character "Q" from the Bond books.

Since In-Q-Tel was founded in 1999, the firm has reviewed more than 6,300
business plans for everything from identity recognition software to nano-sized
electronic circuits. Many proposals come in via its Web site. In-Q-Tel has put
about $200 million into more than 100 companies, beating traditional VC
investors to technologies such as the mapping software that's become Google
Earth.

One of their investments is a particular favorite of mine.

Another part of In-Q-Tel's video strategy is the 3VR investment with Kleiner Perkins. After the London subway bombings on July 7, 2005, about 1,000 British police spent six weeks sifting through video from 6,000 surveillance cameras, says Russell, who founded the company in his basement in 2003....With 3VR, every time someone passes in front of a camera, the software assigns an identification number and establishes a profile based on the geometry of the person's face. When the face is captured from a different angle or in different light, the software creates another mathematical model. The system can be programmed to recognize faces and to issue alerts once a suspect is spotted.

Bad guys beware.

Bringing Down the House...No More

These days card-counters have more to worry about than just the the odds.

No one realizes it at this casino, but Aponte is a veteran of the card-counting
team of math whizzes from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The team reportedly took more than $10 million from casinos in its heyday from 1994 to 2000. Aponte has been barred from more than 100 casinos in the United States and a few overseas. In St. Kitts, he said, he was recognized by a Biometrica database, and now he avoids the biggest, most modern casinos. The team's No. 1 downfall, he said, was information sharing. Once the members' faces began showing up in databases, their days were numbered. (via The Washington Post)

Card-counting isn't a real criminal problem, as being exceptionally good at math isn’t exactly stealing. Still, it’s interesting to see how effective this technology can be when combined with industry-wide information sharing.

Philly Touts Cameras in 37% Crime Drop

Philadelphia is aggressively adding city surveillance cameras, 250 of them, after the success of its initial rollout of just eighteen cameras last year.

The city installed 18 video surveillance cameras last year, which resulted
in an 8.4 percent decline in reported crime at 8 of the locations and a 37
percent decrease in violent crimes. (via Philadelphia Business
Journal)

I think Philly's aggressive monitoring and prosecution efforts might have had a little something to do with the decrease too.

Wi-Fi Brings Cameras to Tough Neighborhoods

Wi-fi Mesh technology is bringing down video deployment costs and making surveillance possible in some fairly rough neighborhoods. Contrary to some other reports, this seems to be having some effect:

"The cameras have made a difference," contends Pastor Mike Cummings, a former
gang member who for nine years has been escorting students to and from Jordan
High in a program known as Safe Passage. As school lets out on a sunny Friday
afternoon, Cummings, a large man wearing a gang-neutral yellow shirt and holding
a walkie-talkie, watches over large groups of youngsters walking home on 103rd
Street. They're going either to the weathered apartment buildings at Jordan
Downs, barrack-like structures fitted with barred windows and satellite dishes,
or to modest detached homes in the neighborhood. Several blocks from Jordan
High, Maricela Vargas is pushing a stroller with three grade-schoolers in tow.
"About a year ago, there was a lot more violence," she says in Spanish, pointing
to what had been a dangerous area just down the street. "Now, it's calmer." (via
FastCompany)

An interview with a Chicago Police officer sheds some light on why some communities are having success with cameras and others, like San Francisco, are not:

"Someone has to watch (the footage)," said Garbauski, who runs missions once a
week. "If there were no arrests, people would say, 'There's no one watching
this. It's just for show.' "

The San Francisco cameras installed at Newsom's request are facing scrutiny
because they have helped police make just one arrest, for an attempted murder,
in more than two years. A city law, prompted by civil liberties concerns, allows
police to request footage only after a crime occurs.

Records show that,
as of Sept. 18, San Francisco inspectors had asked for footage 58 times since
the cameras were installed in mid-2005. Chicago police said that, as of the same
day, they had used camera footage in 1,407 arrests, including at least five
homicides, since the city began tracking data in February 2006. (via
SF Gate)

San Francisco doesn't seem to have any problem using cameras to hand out traffic infractions though.

Beware the Cross Dressing Bandit

A cross dressing bandit robbed a check-cashing store in Milwaukee. I am sure these pictures don’t do him/her justice.

Chicago to Add Cameras to Street Sweepers

For those of you who were worried about privacy implications of “Google’s Street View,” Chicago is about to do them one better:

“We already know we're under surveillance ... well, pretty much all the
time. But it looks like the City may be adding some more robot overlords in
the near future: City Hall is looking for companies to provide high-res
cameras to be attached to street sweepers to photograph illegally parked
cars. The cameras would capture a pic of your license plate, and you'd get a
ticket in the mail. Most street sweeping tickets are $50.”

I am not sure MORE parking tickets were what folks had in mind when they stood up for more city surveillance.

Have You Seen this Man?

Despite recent advancements in camera and encoding technologies, most organizations still can’t provide law enforcement with a decent picture. Here is another example of that. Even if they catch this guy, it will be an uphill battle to use these images in court.

“Police are searching for the person who stole an 83-year-old man's wallet in
Washington County and then used it to purchase more than $100 worth of goods
from a Target store.”

Convergence: It’s not just for breakfast anymore.

Be on the Lookout For?

Toronto police hope their CCTV cameras and surveillance systems will be sufficient to help solve a murder. But with these kinds of pictures, I have my doubts. Meanwhile, back in the US, the images FBI Agents are using to solve a bank robbery aren’t much better.

The Maginot Line Part Deux

Andre Maginot has nothing on the virtual defense being mounted by French police.
Alliot-Marie said the Paris public transport network would expand its surveillance network to 6,500 cameras, while systems operating in provincial cities would be progressively linked to police control rooms. France stepped up security measures after the 2005 attacks in London's transport system that killed 52 people.

Surveillance...In Your Face

Pretty funny, but it’s not exactly the kind of serious debate we really need right now when it comes to managing issues of security and privacy.

Cameras, cameras, everywhere.

If it Walks Like a Terrorist

Behavior scientists at the University of Buffalo received an $800,000 grant to develop a technology that would help identify terrorists by their behavior. The project aims to fuse a variety of known biometric and video analysis technologies into a single “malfeasance score.”
“No single biometric is suited for all applications,” said Govindaraju, who also is founder and director of UB’s Center for Unified Biometrics and Sensors. “Here at CUBS, we take a unique approach to developing technologies that combine and ‘tune’ different biometrics to fit specific needs. In this project, we are focusing on how to analyze different behaviors and come up with a single malfeasance indicator.” The UB project is among the first to involve computer scientists and behavioral scientists working together to develop more accurate detection systems based on research from each field.

I wish them luck, but this is a tremendously difficult problem to solve.