Smart Cameras Blog

[From Ex-New York Police Officials Question Crime Data Integrity - NYTimes.com]

As crime statistics have grown in importance in policing, there is always a worry that they are being massaged. There is tremendous pressure on the police to constantly reduce crime based on crime statistics. Viewers of The Wire are familiar with how crime statistics were manipulated in that show. A recent survey of New York Police Department captains and higher-ranking officers indicated some issues with manipulating crime statistics:

The retired members of the force reported that they were aware over the years of instances of “ethically inappropriate” changes to complaints of crimes in the seven categories measured by the department’s signature CompStat program, according to a summary of the results of the survey and interviews with the researchers who conducted it.

In interviews with the criminologists, other retired senior officers cited examples of what the researchers believe was a periodic practice among some precinct commanders and supervisors: checking eBay, other Web sites, catalogs or other sources to find prices for items that had been reported stolen that were lower than the value provided by the crime victim. They would then use the lower values to reduce reported grand larcenies — felony thefts valued at more than $1,000, which are recorded as index crimes under CompStat — to misdemeanors, which are not, the researchers said.

Others also said that precinct commanders or aides they dispatched sometimes went to crime scenes to persuade victims not to file complaints or to urge them to change their accounts in ways that could result in the downgrading of offenses to lesser crimes, the researchers said.

rshah Crime

ANPR is widely used in the UK. License plate recognition is an important part of the “ring of steel” around London. According to the Register, there are over 10,000 license plate cameras in the UK, which are reading 14 million plates into a national database (National ANPR Data Centre). The data, including a picture of the plate, is saved for 2 years.

A recent story in the Independent, highlighted some potential problems with relying on ANPR. The story reports that the Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) database is “at least 30 per cent inaccurate” in the UK. This has led to the wrongful arrests and car seizures. Moreover, “In 2008, 16-year-old Hayley Adamson was killed by a Northumberland police officer responding at high speed to incorrect information on the ANPR. The officer was jailed last year.”

The UK’s experience is important for the US. As ALPR gains momentum in the US, lets look for ways to use it effectively.

rshah ALPR

The city of Chicago has tested gunshot detection technology for the last few years, previous posts on this can be found here and here. The CPD tested systems from ShotSpotter, PSI (their SECURES technology was acquired by ShotSpotter in April 2009), and Safety Dynamics. According to an article in the Sun-Times in Oct 2009, the city conducted three separate tests of gunshot sensors between 2003 and 2007 in the West Side’s Harrison Police District. Only on one occasion did the detection system send a warning prior to a person calling 911 to report the shooting. As a result, the city felt the gunshot detection systems were too expensive at a cost of $200,000 a square mile.

This mixed success concurs with a similar study on the effectiveness of SECURES gunshot detection system (not ShotSpotter) released in 2008 (based on data from 2005-6).

Despite the lackluster results, the city is going forward with installing the technology in the Loop. It will cover all two square miles. The technology will allow for real time updates on shooters, while distributing this information remotely. The cost is expected to be around $400,000.

rshah Chicago, Gunshot Detection

[From CTA adds cameras to 24 Green Line stations :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Transportation]

The CTA is busy adding cameras as mentioned a few months ago. The CTA has now installed 1,657 cameras, with 73 rail stations covered. Part of this is a high definition camera at the all the entrances.

Cameras already are on CTA buses. Besides installing cameras on train platforms, CTA President Richard Rodriguez said each station will have a high-definition camera to capture the image of everyone who walks into the station. “We’ll be able to identify what time someone entered, and their facial features,” he said.

The cameras are seen as a deterrent to crime. Robberies went up 77 percent on CTA trains, platforms and buses between 2006 and 2008. Here are the funding numbers:

The CTA received $22.6 million in federal funding to expand its security and surveillance network. The Green Line project cost about $4 million, and the CTA plans to use another $9 million to add at least one high-definition camera to every rail station by this summer, as well as more cameras across the system — beginning with the Red and Brown lines. Remaining funds will be used to further improve the security network.

rshah Chicago

[From Chicago homicides drop for 2009 - chicagotribune.com]

Here are the stats:

2003 – 598

2004 – 448

2005 – 448

2006 – 467

2007 – 445

2008 – 510

2009 – 453

While cameras were mentioned last year as a strategy to drive down crime, they received no credit in the Tribune article. The CPD highlighted its city gang teams, use of informants, and analyzing crime data as the best explanations for the reduced crime.

rshah Chicago, Crime

[From Governing through Crime: Crime Decline Conundrum]

Why is crime going up? or down? is a timeless issue and one that has many answers. In Chicago, Wesley Skogan has talked about how larger demographic trends are affecting crime in big cities and the role of gangs on Chicago’s crime rate.

Jonathon Simon over at Governing through Crime also adds his thoughts. Commenting on the latest drops in crime big cities, he speculates on the top three factors underlying the crime drops:

1. Bottoming out of the de-industrialization of American cities that began in 1946 and continued through the 1980s. Even if new economic engines of prosperity have not exactly re-emerged in many cities, the process of losing existing assets has run its course.

2. Demographic diversification of urban neighborhoods through immigration and in-migration of suburbanites fleeing unsustainable lifestyles.

3. Better trained and motivated police forces.

rshah Crime

[From YouTube - HP computers are racist ]

A video demonstration showing how HP’s photo tracking software doesn’t work with an African American. The video is pretty funny and a nice example of how technology is far from neutral (but instead can treat particular groups of people differently). Another similar example was how a voice recognition technology, developed in Massachusetts, wouldn’t work for people with a southern accent.

Here is the part of the response from HP:

We are working with our partners to learn more. The technology we use is built on standard algorithms that measure the difference in intensity of contrast between the eyes and the upper cheek and nose. We believe that the camera might have difficulty “seeing” contrast in conditions where there is insufficient foreground lighting

rshah Applications, Policy

[From Red-light cameras: State legislators having 2nd thoughts -- chicagotribune.com]

Now that legislators have seen how the cameras are used, they are not as supportive:

The chief author of the 2006 Illinois law that green-lighted suburban red-light cameras is now pushing a legislative revision that could effectively undo his original bill. The proposal, from Rep. Angelo “Skip” Saviano, R-Elmwood Park, would ban the use of cameras to ticket motorists for rolling right turns on red, a significant limitation that would strip away the financial incentive for municipalities to install the devices.

By some estimates, up to 90 percent of infractions flagged by cameras involve failures to make proper stops before turning right on a red light. While illegal, such maneuvers rarely lead to serious accidents.

. . .

But Saviano said the practical impact of the cameras has become distorted. “It went from a safety issue to a revenue issue,” he said. “The bottom line is people can’t afford to pay the gosh darn fines. They are grumbling.”

Saviano’s measure is one of several proposals to rein in the use of red-light cameras that have been filed by Illinois lawmakers in anticipation of the legislature’s 2010 session.

rshah Chicago, Red Light Cameras

[From Traffic cameras used to harass and limit movement of peaceful protestors - Boing Boing]

One of the concerns about surveillance cameras is the potential for government abuse. One form of abuse is using the cameras to target a political group. A historical example is the Red Squad. In this article, it claims the police added vehicles to a watch list because they attended a political protest. Once added to the watch list, a vehicle is going to be pulled over and searched. ANPR (license plate recognition) technology is used to identify a vehicle.

I hope the facts are wrong in this story. But its a chilling example of how surveillance systems can impinge on the freedom of citizens.

And, of course, police officers are less than discriminating about who they add to this list. For example, “Catt, 50, and her 84-year-old father, John” were added to the list because a police officer noticed their van at three protest demonstrations. And now Catt and John get pulled over by the police and searched as terrorists.

. . .

Officers have been told they can place “markers” against the vehicles of anyone who attends demonstrations using the national ANPR data centre in Hendon, north London, which stores information on car journeys for up to five years.

rshah ALPR

Chicago’s surveillance cameras were used to track Chicago School Board chief Michael Scott from a convalescent home to a lonely downtown spot along the Chicago River. By using the cameras, the police believe that Scott didn’t meet up with anybody else during that time.

This investigation highlighted the vast network of surveillance cameras in Chicago. Chicago has approximately 15,000 cameras at its disposal. Two thousand cameras are used for fighting crime by the CPD. The rest can be found at the CTA, airports, Park District, McCormick Place, public schools, and private cameras that have joined the city network.

Despite concerns about big brother, the current network is totally inadequate at monitoring every possible location. As I have previously pointed out, the current network of cameras covers only 5% of the city. (This does not include private cameras that are not networked to the city’s camera network.) Nevertheless, the city’s network is large and impressive.

To illustrate the camera network in Chicago, I am publishing a data set of 1,200 cameras used by the police. I believe this is useful to help educate people about the camera network in Chicago. I also hope that this data can find other innovative uses. I am very curious how this data will be viewed, used, and manipulated to other ends.

The data set can be viewed within either Google Earth or Google Maps. The KML file for Google earth is at http://www.smartcamerasblog.com/ChicagoCameras.kml

This data can also be viewed in Google Maps, just enter the following in the search box and click Search Maps: http://www.smartcamerasblog.com/ChicagoCameras.kml

I will keep readers updated on how this information is used.

UPDATE: I have also published the mapping data at GeoCommons, see the Chicago Surveillance Cameras layer. This should allow more people to use the data in additional formats, e.g., Shapefiles.

rshah Chicago