Wide Area Surveillance or IP Camera System - Different Strokes for Different Folks

The Center for Investigative Reporting recently revealed that the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department is trying out a type of surveillance, called Wide Area Surveillance to monitor Compton, an area where residents have to put up with a high incidence of crime.

In the interest of monitoring the city in real time, they are using several high-powered surveillance cameras affixed to the belly of a small civilian plane. As the plane flies over Compton, the cameras will streaming video  or as the CIR quipped, picture "a sort of a Google Earth with a rewind button and the ability to play back the movements of cars and people as they scurry about the city."

The idea is to keep the city in their sights at all times so that when a crime is reported, they can zoom in and monitor the situation, follow suspects,and gather whatever information they can to hand over to investigation teams on the ground.

So how do Wide Area Surveillance systems measure up to ground-based IP camera surveillance systems?

Wide Area Surveillance
WAS was able to carry out large scale airborne patrols, covering large swaths of the city providing  providing real time surveillance and supplying valuable leads to officers patrolling the streets, the cameras' fields of view left a lot to be desired. In one case, a necklace snatching on the street was reported, and the plane was able to capture the fleeing suspect's car on camera until...... the car drove out of camera range.

WAS can be of forensic value in that its stored video can be rewound to discover a perpetrator's starting point ,his route, where and with whom  he may have met up.

It can even be used internally to look into whether correct police procedures are being followed.
However when it comes to clarity and resolution,  the images the cameras produced are not of sufficient resolution to be stand up in court.

IP Camera Systems
Since they are ground-based cameras, they cannot cover the whole city at once,  but the images  the high-resolution IP security cameras do capture are of superior resolution to those of the airborne cameras. Furthermore, the digital cameras have the capacity to zoom in on faces or other identifying details, which the plane's cameras could not. As a result, police and district attorneys are able to submit them as identifying evidence in court.

In a Perfect  Surveillance World
In a world where municipalities had unlimited funds and access to all the latest technology, we might turn on the news and hear the following  account of how police managed to apprehend a suspect.

• A male suspect robs a bank. He is caught on IP camera video as he exits.
• A plane equipped with wide area surveillance cameras since it is always in "the right spot" is able to follow and film his fleeing car, a red Mazda, while keeping police up to date on his route of flight.
• But then, the robber drives into a municipal garage and manages to elude both airborne and on-the ground police.
• In reviewing the WAS video, the police discover he passed under a traffic camera, that since he was speeding, captured his license plate number, speed, date, and time.
• Thanks to License Plate Technology, police determine that the Mazda is registered to a certain B.C. McThief who lives at 7822 742 Street.
• Police go to 7822 742 street and seeing the Mazda parked in front,  stage a stake out, waiting for Mr McThief to emerge so they can see if he fits the image captured on the bank's IP security camera.
• He does.
• They take him into custody.

Kintronics doesn't specialize in WAS but they are the experts in IP technolgy. If you want information about IP camera systems, call Kintronics at 914-944-3425 and speak to a sales engineer, or if you prefer, fill out an information request form.

A Tale of Two Serial Shooters and How their License Plates Did Them In

Kansas City, Missouri 
March 29, 2014  - April 17, 2014

No one could blame  Kansas City Missouri drivers for distracted driving last month. It's hard to keep your eyes trained on the road when  the driver in the car overtaking you just might have a .380 caliber gun trained on you. It began in March when a string of calls started coming in to the police, with drivers reporting they'd been shot at while negotiating the maze of freeway intersections south of the city.

When I heard of the Kansas City incidents  I instantly identified with the fear and paranoia. It took me back to July 1976 to August 1977, when an unknown gunman was using a .44 caliber handgun to randomly gun down  young women with long blond hair and their dates. You may have heard of him - Son of Sam  It didn't help matters that I fit the profile.  Luckily for me, I didn't know, until he was captured, that he lived just across town from me in Yonkers. NY.

The Kansas City shooter is now behind bars, as is Son of Sam. In both cases, it was a female witness who contacted police and supplied them with their first tangible lead, a license plate number which they were able to link to a car and the name of the man who would be apprehended in it.  In Kansas City it was  

Mohammed Pedro Whitaker in his green Dodge Neon,

 and in New York,

David Berkowitz in his Ford Galaxy

.

Son of Sam

New York City
July 29, 1976 -  August 10, 1977

Although Berkowitz had a penchant for writing anonymous rambling satanic letters to neighbors, a New York City police detective, and a newspaper columnist, no connection was made until a woman who'd encountered him while walking her dog put two-and-two together, connecting the man in the shadows with the shady smile, and the pop pop she'd heard when she was safely inside her apartment, to the shootings in the news the next day.  This led the NYPD to look into parking tickets issued on her street that night. They sorted through the files manually and set out to investigate all the drivers, but never got around to the last ticket, the one left on a Ford Galaxy whose owner David Berkowitz lived in Yonkers, just north of the city.

Meanwhile  in Yonkers, the Yonkers PD,  and  the recipients of his rambling satanic letters were connecting dots that led them to a strange young man who'd moved out of his apartment, leaving no forwarding address, and a whole different set of  crimes

• One  recipient happened to be his former landlord, a man named Sam whose dog had been shot after the now-departed tenant had complained about his barking. 

• Another recipient had recently come upon and put out an arson fire before reporting it to the police.The incident had prompted a letter from his new upstairs neighbor, whose handwriting was identical to that of the other letters.

 This last letter included the cryptic words, "yes I am the killer, but you command the killings." The sender's name was David Berkowitz.

Sam. A cryptic confession. The shooting of a dog

It took a bit of convincing before the YPD was able to persuade the NYPD, who, in their defense, were drowning in a sea of  false leads, to cross city limits and see what they had up in Yonkers.After all, didn't they already have a name,"Berkowitz" and a car, the Ford Galaxy.

A team of undercover New York City detectives arrived at the building.Sitting outside was the Galaxy. It took several hours of patient observation, but finally a man emerged from the building and got into the car. The detectives descended on him and when they asked him who he was, he smiled and said 'You know who I am. I'm Sam, David Berkowitz."

The Kansas City Shooter
This story is much shorter. After the first couple of shootings, the Kansas City Shooter was predictable. Dressed in a black hoodie and sunglasses, he'd fire .380 caliber bullets at cars, as they exited freeways or negotiated splits and merges. Twelve drivers reported being shot at, two being actually hit, and in another case. a bullet was found to have pierced the car's door, narrowly missing a young girl. As the city-wide fear mounted, a woman realized she may have been  targeted early on, before he'd made a name for himself.
 According to the Los Angeles Times, the  driver of a green Dodge Neon had stopped short in front of her in late March, and turned to stare, then drove alongside her towards the point where the two lanes merged. Rather than pull in front of him, she braked abruptly, and he had to go ahead. This gave her a chance to note his out-of-state Illinois license plate number.  That was all the police needed. The date was April 9. They took Whitaker into custody April 17.

License Plate Recognition to the Rescue
You may be wondering why it was that Berkowitz, who shot 13 victims, six of whom died, was able to continue his rampage for over a year while Whitaker was apprehended in less than three weeks.  It wasn't a matter of police efficiency or inefficiency. What made the difference was a technology that wasn't available in the 1970's. License Plate Recognition.

Since the Kansas City Police Department was using twelve cars equipped with automated license plate readers, they were able to find they had the information on the plates. With three digital or IP cameras mounted to the roof of each car, they had already come upon the Dodge in their everyday patrols so its  license plate was already in their database along with the relevant GPS positioning and date.

According to the Times, one images showed the car in front of a house in a suburb of Kansas City, but the Illinois license plate was attached to a different car. Another image showed the plate less Dodge, sitting in the driveway next to yet another car bearing the plates.

Having all the probable cause they needed, the police obtained a warrant to place a GPS tracking system on the car, and requested that Sprint allow them to "ping" Whitaker's cellphone. Thus they were able to place a 24 hour surveillance detail on him that, over the next few days,  observed him

• try and fail to purchase a gun from a man in a parking lot 
• enter a Walmart where he looked at ammunition .
• change lanes erratically on area freeways
• come to a sudden stop in front of one of the surveillance cars and turn to stare as the officer behind the wheel avoided him.
• Dash across lanes of traffic to follow closely on the tail of a Honda.

A day after this last incident, they arrested him.

Today the NYPD has several hundred license plate readers roaming the five boroughs. If David Berkowitz had struck today, the Son of Sam story would have been a whole lot shorter.

If you want a detailed account of the Son of Sam tragedy I recommend the website, Crime Library which I visited in order fill in the moth holes in my memory.

On the other hand, if you're looking for information on IP Cameras or license plate readers, call  Kintronics at 914-944-3425 to speak to a sales engineer, or fill out a handy information request form. 

Airports and Perimeter Security

The newscaster had my attention when she reported that a boy had flown from California to Hawaii stowed away in a plane's wheel well, enduring  five hours of near-zero temperatures and extremely low oxygen levels  in an unpressurized space at an altitude of 38,000 feet "Wow," I marveled as I'm sure viewers did  all over the world. "How could that be?"

When an on-site reporter detailed how the boy managed to slip through a web of manpower and technology, including  an extensive network of IP security cameras and a  workforce of 3,000, charged with handling security. It wasn't until she went into detail describing how he had managed to evade Sega-riding security officers and a foot patrol accompanied by  German shepherds made regular patrols while an overhead  camera swept the scene, including a corner of the airfield formed by the angle of a traffic-filled freeway and its exit ramp that I instantly recognized the locale. Simultaneously she confirmed it with the words  "The incident occurred at the 1,050 acre Mineta San Jose International Airport." My reaction changed instantly  from "How could it be?" to "I believe it."

Some Relevant Facts

Mineta San Jose International Airport was my home airport for fifteen years although it was just San Jose International Airport at the time. In fact when I first moved to the San Jose area in 1979 it was just San Jose Airport. If I wanted a direct flight to New York I had to drive to San Francisco since San Jose's landing field was too small for a a jumbo jet. If I did fly on a smaller jet there was no such thing as a jet port because there was no such thing as a big terminal. One had to trek out onto the field and ascend the shaky metal steps that had been rolled up to the plane's door.

Sometime in the mid-80's when Silicon Valley made San Jose a bonafide destination, American Airlines made San Jose a hub, built their own terminal, scheduling international flights and the rest is history. Other airlines added direct flights to the airport, and in 2010 San Jose International Airport once again underwent a major overhaul, making it a state-of-the-art facility.

But one thing remains, Highway 101 still  borders the west perimeter of the airport and its freeway ramp still forms a portion of the south perimeter.

Only a six foot high fence topped with barbwire separates air traffic from road traffic. It is one of these fences that the young stowaway scaled. I said to myself, "If there's an airport in need of tight perimeter security it's certainly San Jose."

This incident brings up the question, Are American airports doing as much as they can to maintain security outside terminals? Rafi Ron, former security head at Israel's Ben Gurion Airport, possibly the most secure airport in the world, told the Associated Press, of his own experience. "We were investing all our resources at the front door which was the passengers and their bags.

 And we left the back door open. And that was the perimeter and access to the aircraft."

Perimeter Security

Perimeter security is an attempt to monitor sprawling areas. "Attempt", because, as any security official will tell you,no system is foolproof. That's why perimeter security solutions make use of several different surveillance technologies

IP Camera Video Surveillance

In years past, installing hard-wired security cameras was an expensive and labor-intensive project with the need for digging trenches and running cables. However the installation of today's wireless IP camera surveillance systems call for neither. Since each camera occupies a node on an Ethernet network, with its own IP address, they merely need to mounted and connected to the airport's network. Additional cameras can be added quickly, and should a camera need to be moved, relocation is all that's needed.

Once added, the cameras can be monitored from any PC or mobile device.

However, keeping one's eye on all this video is a monumental task, as Mr Paul attested. "What happened at San Jose can happen, as we speak, at other airports, because nobody can watch all these monitors." This is why video management software is so important as part of a total surveillance solution.

Video management software

Pan Tilt zoom cameras can be programmed to range back and forth, covering a specific area of the airports boundaries, and with Video Management Software  installed can alert security, should motion be detected, or a parcel that wasn't there on one sweep of the area appears on the next. In both cases, a pushed video alert would stream the video to the PC or video wall at the security stations and/or to roving guards' mobile device screens so they can respond immediately.  

Thermal Imaging
Thermal imaging cameras can provide "insurance" coverage. Since they function by detecting heat, conditions that interfere with the light needed by conventional cameras, do not interfere with thermal imaging. They are able to provide coverage through dust, glare, the uneven lighting available at dusk and dawn, or even in the darkness of night. Using special adaptive analytics,VMS, and video encoders, footage can be recorded and stored, or should security be breached, push alerts can go out to security as noted above.

The Experts Weigh In

 The San  Jose Mercury News included the response of  Jeff Price, a professor at Metropolitan State University in Denver and an author who has written extensively on security. "You've got enough layers in the system. It's just a matter where it seems the system didn't work."

The Mercury News also quoted Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University's Director of Terrorism, Intelligence, and Security Systems Richard Bloom as commenting "This doesn't mean we should radically change the way we do airport security. It's just that with all these layers of security, none of them is 100% accurate. Each has its own vulnerabilities."

This was apparent because after the boy was discovered wandering the airfield in Hawaii, he told authorities that he had gained entry by climbing a fence. And indeed, review of the stored video back in San Jose revealed footage of what appeared to be the youth on the field. Apparently no one monitoring the video feed had noticed him.

Stating the Obvious

While stored video can be invaluable in reconstructing a forensics scene, it can only be effective in real time if  someone is carefully monitoring their screen.

Turn Around Senator Blumenthal

If you recall, Kintronics Blog by Virginia recently featured a post about a joint press conference in Grand Central Station held by New York Senator Chuck Schumer and  Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal, in which they called for digital or IP camera systems on all Metro North and Long Island Railroad commuter trains in light of a tragic train derailment killing 3 on December 1, 2013.

We also provided an update when the National Transportation Safety Board agreed and the Metropolitan Transit Agency, which oversees the rail lines, began the procedure to seek bids from companies who could design camera systems and digital or IP recording systems to be installed in over 1,700 rail cars.

It just so happens that this morning your blogger heard snippets of a morning news report about Senator Blumenthal's nearly being hit by a Metro North train while holding yet another news conference about train safety, this time on a train platform in Milford, Connecticut.

Since it was news to me, I decided to Google it. I found that the incident had rolled through the media like a roaring train (sorry about that!) The New York Daily News, Fox 5 News, Huffington Post, and London's Daily Mail, to name but a few of many media outlets, had not only written about the near-miss, but provided video accompanied by just the type of commentary you'd expect in an incident like this. Most gave advice about staying off the yellow warning line marking the edge of the platform. My favorite is that contributed by Time Magazine. Check out the video and the advice.

My own take on it is that maybe the Senator needs to have his hearing checked.

Anyone seeking advice on how IP cameras or other IP security products can protect their home, business, or school can call Kintronics at 914-944-3425 to speak to a sales engineer, or fill out an information request form and we will get back to you with our answers

It's a Bird, It's a Plane, it's a Drone

The old "It's a bird, it's a plane, it's superman" may soon be updated to "It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a Google drone." This week the Wall Street Journal reported that Google acquired a company called Titan Aerospace, a New Mexico company that makes solar-powered drones.

What does a solar powered drone look like?

 Take a look at Titan's Solara

 What might Google want to do with drones?

• Since the 350 lb Solara is purported to be capable of staying aloft  for five years at a time, thanks to a combination of solar panels that keep it aloft during the day and an on-board battery pack, at night, it can definitely capture lot of current images for Google Earth and Google Maps

• Google is also working on an endeavor called Project Loon in which they will send balloons into the atmosphere. These balloons (not your average party balloon) will then beam the Internet to areas of the world who until now have remained in the Internet dark. With an operating range of over 6,500 square miles at a cruising altitude of 65,000 feet,, the Solara can definitely launch its share of balloons.

Can they do this?

Not quite yet, and not quite everywhere. Congress passed a law in 2012 that charged the Federal Aviation Administration with integrating conventionally powered drones into American airspace. To this end, back in January, the FAA selected six universities and government agencies to test civilian versions of the aircraft the military and CIA have been using in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

Drones come in all sizes ranging from less than a pound to over 30,000 pounds, so safety standards must also be established. Likewise just because drones are unmanned, as their formal name unmanned aerial vehicle attests, doesn't mean they are un-operated. Licensing standards must  be established for the pilots who "man" them from the ground.

Since the law has set 2015 as the go-to date for getting the UAV's up and circling, it looks like the FAA has a tight schedule.

What Can We Expect after 2015?

The FAA has estimated that within five years of authorization, at least 7,500 commercial drones will be inhabiting the atmosphere. According to Bloomberg Businessweek, the FAA has approved 423 applications filed by educational, law enforcement, and military entities. What they intend to do with the drones is presently unknown but most likely related to surveillance.

As UAV technology evolves, drones outfitted with high resolution IP camera surveillance systems would seem to be more adept at monitoring remote pipelines and power lines than the helicopters now serving in that capacity. Other possible IP camera systems applications include

• search and rescue operations
• fire monitoring
• weather reporting
• disaster recovery
• border patrol
• asset tracking
• narcotics raids

Kintronics does not sell drones but we do consult on and sell IP camera security systems so if you have any questions call us at 914-944-3425 or fill out an information request form and one of our sales engineers will reply with the requested info

Bureaucratic Woes Can Affect Security

Usually when security cameras are mentioned in the news, it's because of what they recorded. However last month, several news reports centered around what they didn't record How could they? They weren't running, and haven't been for some time. Both situations point up the necessity of updating and maintaining IP camera surveillance systems.

Hoboken, NJ

One incident was, and continues to be tragic. On March 31, a young man went on a post midnight jog along the Hoboken waterfront. His fate has yet to be discovered. The police know his route through the business district because he was caught on several security cameras maintained by merchants and restaurants however once he approached the public riverside promenade, where at least two city-owned network

cameras are mounted,  the trail turns cold. The reason? Out of a municipal surveillance network of ten cameras, installed in 2004, none are working, nor have they been since 2010.

According to an NBC NY I-Team report, the cameras went offline four years ago when a contract the city had with the company responsible for system maintenance expired. Due to an irregularity in the bidding process it was never renewed. A spokesman for the mayor told reporters that an engineer was called in a couple of years ago and his advice was "this system is old and not maintained and the recommendation was that they really weren't usable."


Pittsburgh, PA

A similar situation exists in Pittsburgh, PA.  According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, nearly a quarter of the $1.4M worth of surveillance cameras bought in 2009 with a Department of Homeland Security Grant have

been taken offline because either they are not transmitting at all, or are providing fuzzy images. Why? Due to a bureaucratic snafu, the contract to renew maintenance went unsigned. When the contractor was never paid for work they had continued to do, work ceased.
However unlike Hoboken, 75% did continue to function, and fortunately so, since a combined surveillance video from public and private security cameras were instrumental in providing footage that led to the recent apprehension of a suspect in a double homicide.

The Foreseeable Future

In Pittsburgh, Mayor Bill Peduto's reaction, as reported by CBS Pittsburgh?  "It's a big concern. Anytime we spend a lot of money and buy equipment that's supposed to be used for the public, especially for public safety and  it's not being used or turned on, it raises a lot of questions."

At present the situation is on track to being remedied. Cameras  may soon be back on the job since the city council is expected to approve paying the contractor. How long that will take depends on the bureaucratic path the check must travel.

Meanwhile in Hoboken,  two weeks ago, the city received notification that it had been granted a FEMA Port Security Grant. The mayor's spokesman said the money will most likely go to purchase eight new cameras to monitor the waterfront.  Why most likely?  The city council must vote on whether to accept the grant!?!?

Let's hope when it comes time to replace what they have, both cities will select IP camera systems which

offer ease of maintenance and remote focus lenses and PTZ controls Also since IP camera security systems are network attached, they are highly scalable meaning cameras can be added or replaced without any effect on the whole system.



Kintronics can answer any questions you might have about security products. Call us at 914-944-3425 or fill out an information form and we'll get back to you with all the info you need.

A Tale of Two Cities

Recently  two U.S. cities, a continent apart,  found their way into the news. Both are in the preliminary stages of putting together a policy that would allow them to tap into video footage from privately owned digital and IP camera systems in order to aid police in their investigations.

While the proposed laws appear similar at first glance, there are substantial differences. One is seeking voluntary compliance, and pertains to cameras already in place, while the other is mandatory, requiring certain citizens to install cameras or face a fine, or possibly a stint in jail.

But these cities, White Plains, New York, and San Jose, California, do have one thing in common. This author has called each home at different phases of her life.

San Jose
Back in January, the San Jose Mercury News reported that a city council member had submitted a proposal that would ask anyone with a security camera to voluntarily register it for inclusion on a security camera database to be maintained by the San Jose Police Department.  Should a robbery, assault, or any other crime be committed in the neighborhood, the police could then be able to remotely tap into the feeds of IP camera security systems, or if the cameras happen to be analog, owners would hand over discs containing the actual video.

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White Plains
In February, the White Plains Common Council  unanimously passed Ordinance 4.25 which requires certain merchants to install and maintain digital video and IP camera surveillance systems to record and store high resolution video of everyone who comes onto the premises, and to make it available to the White Plains Police Department should they need it while investigating a crime in the vicinity.

Affected businesses include

• pharmacies
• pawn shops
• businesses licensed to sell alcohol
• check cashing concerns
• licensed second hand dealers who buy and sell precious metals 
• bars and any business that stays open between midnight and 4 A.M.

A Bit of Background
San Jose, whose population has doubled since 1970 when the first seeds of Silicon Valley started crowding the almond and apricot orchards that dotted the city. Although, like all cities it had its pockets of  crime, overall, San Jose, not long ago, was reputed to be one of the country's safest cities.

 Recent years, however have seen crime rates soar. Accordingly many homeowners have equipped their properties with security cameras.

It was the footage from several of these cameras that was key in helping police identify a prime suspect allegedly responsible for the fires in Liccardo's district.  However, since they had to go knocking on doors to find people with cameras, who knows how many fires might have been prevented had police been able to access them immediately following the fire. This gnawing question  led  Liccardo  to submit the proposal whose fate has yet to be decided.

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White Plains, while nowhere near the size of San Jose, is the county seat for Westchester County, an

affluent northern suburb of New York City. White Plains' downtown business district had fallen on hard times in the 1970's and '80's due to the rise of shopping malls and big box stores luring customers to surround areas. In the past 15 - 20 years developers, including Donald Trump have built luxury high rise apartments and hotels,





and Mamaroneck Ave, once a shopping street is now lined with upscale sidewalk

cafes, restaurants, and lively bars and clubs.







One thing remains constant, however. The downtown area always was and still is plagued by crime. As in San Jose, it was a member of the Common Council who came up with a camera sharing idea. However this law is mandatory and gives business proprietors  until  February 2015 to equip their establishments with digital or IP camera security systems capable of recording quality video with resolution sufficient to distinguish facial features, and to share it with police upon demand

Citizen Concerns

Some critics of the San Jose proposal complain that the plan would set a precedent of privatizing surveillance. Others do not like that the police would have 24/7 access to the footage and while sorting through it would be able to monitor private areas.

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What makes White Plains' law more controversial than San Jose's is that it's mandated and only applies to certain citizens, namely the approximately 250 businesses who will have to invest an estimated $1,000 to $2,000 for cameras and digital or IP recording systems. The cost of non-compliance is a possible jail sentence of up to 15 days plus a fine of $250 a day until the system is up and running.

Official Take

Officials on both coasts have been quick to chime in with their support.

According to the McClatchy News Service, San Jose retired judge La Doris Cordell has gone on record saying she sees the proposal as a natural extension of existing technological advances that already provide the police with video. She cites the smartphones with which witnesses readily record and volunteer video to the police, and the body-worn cameras with which San Jose will soon be outfitting police officers.

As for the privacy issue, she discounts it, seeing it not so much an "intrusion on privacy" but rather as a way for San Jose residents to "know what's going on in their neighborhoods."

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Meanwhile White Plains Police Chief James Bradley was an early supporter, as evidenced by work-session remarks to the Common Council, ( reported by local paper, Journal News) saying that the use of video "is one of the growing trends in our profession. It has helped us solve a number of high profile crimes more quickly.......When a case is in court, juries ask for DNA and video."

Since San Jose has yet to yay or nay the proposal, and the White Plains Ordinance will not take effect until February 2015, the question of how it all will play out cannot be answered. Meanwhile, should you have questions about IP cameras, IP access control systems, or IP intercoms, you can visit the Kintronics website and fill out one of our information  request forms, or if you prefer to call, the number is 914-944-3425