Smart Cameras Blog

All new Chicago content will be at EyeingChicago.com

For other commentary on smart cameras, you can see my posts at InHardFocus

rshah Chicago

For long time readers of this blog, it’s pretty clear there is a split on content. In the last year, the majority of posts have covered video surveillance and red light cameras in Chicago. The amount devoted to smart cameras has been overshadowed. Thanks to a generous offer by Stephen Russell, I am joining InHardFocus.com. Moving will give me a larger audience, collaborators, and more time to develop better quality posts. You can see my first post on the Secure Border Initiative Network. I still want to focus on Chicago and in the next few weeks I am going to start a new blog, EyeingChicago.com. This will blog will focus on the developments within Chicago. I think this split will be good for me and my readers. Wish me luck!

rshah General

Ksenia over at Mesh Without Wires has two great posts on the camera network in Chicago. As someone who works for Firetide, she knows how wireless camera systems operate. Chicago is a big customer of Firetide, with two generations of wireless infrastructure mesh. She gives a walking photo tour of the Chicago’s camera infrastructure. The first post is from the Gold Coast area to the Theatre District. The second post covers Millennium Park. They are fully of information and a must for people interested in the various boxes and cameras seen high above the city. Here is an example of a picture she posted:

rshah Applications, Chicago

[From When Shots Fired, Cops "Hear" It Instantly | NBC Chicago]

The history of gunshot detection in Chicago begins with a trial in 2004 by Safety Dynamics and a later pilot program in 2007 with ShotSpotter. In April, I noted that despite ShotSpotter – Not a Silver Bullet, the city felt gunshot detection was too expensive. The NBC reporters decided to pursue this story:

But now? Both systems appear to have gone by the wayside. A police spokesman wrote in an e-mail that the programs were “not entirely effective” in an urban environment. The cost of the programs were also cited. Despite repeated requests to interview Chicago police, our requests went unanswered.

Perhaps the reason for the silence is the fact that the city apparently hasn’t paid its bills. Officials from both ShotSpotter and Safety Dynamics said the city owes them money. Safety Dynamics said it would like its equipment back or be paid. Shot Spotter said the city owes them close to $200,000.

The story does mention (as will ShotSpotter) that there are cities that are happy with the results of the gunshot detection technology. The more interesting part of the story for me is not Chicago’s unwillingness to use the technology, but their inability to be open to the public about the technologies they use.

rshah Chicago, Gunshot Detection

[From Red-light cameras increase rear-end crashes - and revenue]

A plug for myself . . . recent interview on red light cameras:

We are assured they are for our own good. We are assured they decrease accidents at intersections. And with those assurances comes the unspoken rebuke: How could anyone be against anything that reduces accidents and saves lives?

It was not a question Rajiv Shah intended to address. Shah, a communications professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, originally set out to study the City of Chicago’s extensive use of closed-circuit TV cameras. But when he learned the city also had the largest network of red light cameras in North America, with RLCs deployed permanently at 188 intersections, he decided to investigate the city’s claims that those RLCs significantly reduced intersection accidents.

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/light+cameras+increase+rear+crashes+revenue/3554953/story.html#ixzz10A59LN1V

rshah Chicago, Red Light Cameras

[From Daily Herald | Red-light camera shocker! Village finds devices aren't wonder cure]

Meanwhile, Lombard is nixing its one remaining red-light camera, at North Avenue and Route 53. “We didn’t see any significant statistical differences (in crashes),” Deputy Police Chief Dane Cuny said.

Originally, Lombard had cameras at two intersections. The statistics showed crashes decreased at North and Route 53 but increased at another location at Finley and Roosevelt roads. The conflicting results convinced village leaders to yank the devices.

rshah Chicago, Red Light Cameras

[From Napolitano praises Chicago's surveillance camera system |]

The official leading the spending spree on surveillance cameras:

Pressed on whether the ever-expanding network is a good thing, she said: “Absolutely. If you look at cities around the world — like London, for example, [and] Madrid has been employing more cameras — they are deterrents. But they are also force multipliers, and they enable us to make the best use of our first responders.”

rshah Chicago

[From Cams a Critical Crime-Fighting Tool: Weis | NBC Chicago]

The CPD and OEMC are drawing attention to the cameras. They claim the cameras have helped to solve 4,500 crimes this year and the cameras have been the lead investigator in roughly 24,000 missions.

Police Supt. Jody Weis on Monday lauded the network of blue light cameras that sit high above Chicago’s streets, . . . “The police can’t be everywhere every minute of the day, so the cameras play a critical role in preventing and solving crime,” he said.

Weis was joined Monday evening by Jose Santiago, the Executive Director of the Office of Emergency Management and Communications, and by Jonathan Lewin, the Managing Deputy Director of Public Safety and Information Technology, to illustrate two recent examples of how the the Police Observation Devices, or PODs, played a role in solving a crime. On May 2, a camera on the 1300 block of East 75 Street appears to show two men in a drug transaction. The camera was being controlled nearby, inside the District 3 headquarters. Once the sale appears to be consummated, a pre-assigned tactical team rushed in and made an arrest.

. . .

In other cases, the address tied to a phone calling to report a crime will automatically trigger the nearest camera to begin looking for the trouble. That’s exactly what happened on July 30, when police say a passenger’s anger over a fare led him to attack his cab driver near the corner of West Elm Street and North LaSalle Boulevard. The camera was triggered by a call and officers then manning the camera were able to communicate to their counterparts on the street to make an arrest.

rshah Chicago

I have been very busy (and will probably continued to be), so the blog won’t be updated as often. But I will try to keep up on all the major stories related to smart cameras and the Chicago surveillance system.

CBS News ran a story that provides a basic overview of the Chicago camera network.

The CPD is using predictive profiling as a new technique, from the Sun-Times and Government Technology:

The Chicago Police Department is working with the Illinois Institute of Technology and the Rand Corp. on an innovative project that will help pinpoint hot spots of criminal activity. The process — called predictive analytics — is to analyze every violent incident and gang interaction with police to extrapolate and identify future problems. The numbers will be analyzed by experts at ITT. . . . Weis explained how the information pinpoints the time of day and location of violent crimes. In the past, gang data were compiled on a yearly basis, Weis said. Now any police interaction with a gang member will be fed into the system for a “real time, ongoing” account of where gangs operate.

For a different angle, the folks at Second City Cop have also weighed in on this technique.

rshah Applications, Chicago

[From Naperville Stopping Some Red-Light Camera Tickets]

Naperville is going to stop using red light cameras for ticketing right turns (at most intersections). This is a very sensible policy, since right turn traffic violations are usually not a significant safety risk (especially compared to people running straight through red lights). It’s good to see a city treat its citizens fairly and not find a sneaky way to extract some money out of them.

rshah Chicago, Red Light Cameras