Candid camera

The Public Works Department's network of pan-zoom-tilt traffic cameras continues to grow, as three more were added in the past week. Although these are primarily designed to help the traffic center monitor flow patterns and signal timings, they actually have some great potential for assisting us at the police department.

You might be thinking photo speed enforcement, or photo traffic signal enforcement--which is common in Europe and in parts of the U.S. (the Phoenix metro area, for example.) I like photo enforcement for traffic signals, not only because I am familiar with the research, but because I've personally seen the results: it seemed to me when I was last in Phoenix that people actually stop when the light turns yellow, rather than jam the accelerator, bust through the light, and suck three more cars through behind them. It will take action by the State Legislature to enable photo enforcement in Nebraska, and past legislative proposals have not fared well.

What really has me thinking, though, are the applications these cameras may have for criminal investigations and for public-place monitoring to improve safety. A few weeks ago, Capt. Jim Thoms and I followed a suspect vehicle up 27th Street on cameras at Old Cheney, Highway 2, South Street, Capital Parkway, and O Street. We finally caught a good enough shot at O Street to realize that the vehicle we had been following was the wrong one.

The City's traffic cameras aren't recorded (that's not something Public Works really needs), but a Nebraska company, Hawkeye Vision, has loaned me some equipment to cobble together a little experimental recording system right in my office for a few weeks. I'm only recording a handful of the 20 cameras, but it's been interesting. Officer Ray Kansier used it a couple weeks ago to get a better description of the possible getaway vehicle from a robbery. Investigator Shannon Karl found the suspect vehicle leaving the scene of a convenience store robbery on video last week. I've caught and recorded a few police incidents, and a bunch of traffic violations.

It certainly has my head spinning about what the future may hold. Checking video from convenience stores, ATMs, banks, gas stations, and so forth has become a pretty common step in many criminal investigations in the past few years. The difference here is in monitoring public places--streets, in this instance, but it could be parks, bus shelters, or other public facilities. If we have a description of a vehicle leaving a crime scene, for instance, it is almost a certainly that the vehicle will be driving through one of those 20 intersections. If they were all recorded, and the camera resolution, angle of view, and lighting cooperated, we'd really have something!

Some cities, like London and Chicago, are going hog-wild with cameras in public places. After dabbling with it a little bit, I can see why. When you think about it, we're all probably caught on camera several times daily--not just at the traffic light at a major intersection, but using the ATM, buying coffee at the Gas 'n Gulp, at the airport, and all sorts of other circumstances. It's cheap and easy, and lots of businesses are doing it that would never dream of CCTV five years ago. It's a little disconcerting to some people who think about the infringement on their privacy. I have to admit, I'm a little uncomfortable thinking about who's watching whenever I'm on an elevator these days.

I'm not without "big brother" concerns of my own, but on the other hand, the ability to remotely keep an eye on the pot boiling at 14th and O Street, or get a better description of the vehicle involved in the robbery is pretty enticing. My prediction: this is going to be a significant force in the future of policing.

We may not be able to do much about the private sector spread of cameras, but on the public side, it will be up to citizens to determine how far we allow this to go.