Law Enforcement

Forensics Expert Says ?Original Files? Are Missing From Security Cameras At Dead Georgia Teen?s School

Posted by dtaitano 9:46 pm Categories: Law Enforcement. Tags: , , , .

By Arturo Garcia Friday, November 22, 2013 17:40 EST Forensic expert tells CNN there’s missing footage from dead Georgia teen’s gym [CNN] At least an hour of footage is missing from each of the four surveillance cameras at Kendrick Johnson’s high school, and the original footage showing how the Georgia teenager died might be gone, CNN reported on Thursday. “Those files are not original files,” forensics video analyst Grant Fredericks told CNN. “They’re not something investigators should rely on for the truth of the video.” CNN enlisted Fredericks in order to analyze more than 290 hours of video it acquired from Lowndes County High School, where the 17-year-old was found dead in the gym in January. Local officials initially determined that he died from asphyxiation after getting trapped inside a gym mat, an argument his family has rejected. An independent autopsy ordered by the victim’s family found the cause of death to be “unexplained, apparent non-accidental, blunt force trauma.” But while the Lowndes Public Schools district told CNN the video it provided was “a raw feed with no edits,” Fredericks disagreed, saying it was “altered in a number of ways, primarily in image quality and likely in dropped information, information loss. There are also a number of files that are corrupted because they’ve not been processed correctly and they’re not playable. I can’t say why they were done that way, but they were not done correctly, and they were not done thoroughly. So we’re missing information.” Specifically, two of […]

Steve Duin: Portland Police Re-Dedicate Themselves To Video Surveillance

Posted by dtaitano 9:23 pm Categories: Law Enforcement. Tags: , , , , .

They were walking, Bill Merritt and Peggy McClure, in the damp shadow of the communication tower atop Council Crest when they bumped into a crew laboring over a manhole and the underground fiber-optic cable that rolls down the hillside. What’s going on? they asked.  “A dedicated line,” one of the ditch-diggers said, “running from the tower down to the Portland police station.” “Great,” McClure said.  “So, that means we’ll have quicker response time on 9-1-1 calls?” Not at all, she was told. This line was dedicated to something else altogether.  “Police surveillance.  It will pick up signals from police-operated aircraft.  Which are sorta like manned drones.” Merritt and McClure have been together for 20 years and married for the last seven, most of which they spent abroad while McClure was managing Peace Corps operations in Botswana and Morocco. For all they knew, this broadband operation had already been vetted in council sessions, neighborhood meetings and newspaper columns.  “We’ve been out of the loop,” Merritt conceded. “But what are we surveilling?” Whatever strikes the fancy of Portland police, it turns out.  And once those fiber-optic connections are completed at the Portland Building, the bureau will be able to stream the video to anyone who wants it. “We do not have drones.  We are not getting drones.  Period,” Sgt. Pete Simpson insisted Thursday.  The bureau’s Cessnas, on the other hand, have been around for years:  “We use them for tactical situations.  Block searches.  Missing persons.  If we’re doing a gang cool-down […]

Lowell, MA Police Deploy New Surveillance Vehicle

Posted by dtaitano 7:14 pm Categories: City Surveillance, Law Enforcement. Tags: , , .

Press Release – For Immediate Release Contact: Public Information Officer: Captain Kelly Richardson Krichardson@lowellma.gov Office: (978) 674-1709 New Tool in Crime Detection and Deterrence LOWELL, MA (November 13, 2013) Lowell Police will be rolling out a new tool to help combat crime and disorder in our city. A Lowell Police van that has been refurbished is now equipped with video surveillance capabilities. The cameras will be obvious to an observer and the van will be clearly marked as belonging to the Lowell Police along with its surveillance capabilities. These cameras will allow for the recording of incidents in close proximity of the van even in low light conditions. Records of those legally obtained recording will be maintained and if needed will be used for the identification and prosecution of individuals involved in illegal activity. This van will be clearly marked as such in hopes that it will also have a deterrent effect on any crime or disorder in or around its stationed location in the city. The first roll out of this new tool will be in an undisclosed location in the city this weekend

Thermal Video Captures 17 Crossing Border In California

Posted by dtaitano 11:33 pm Categories: Law Enforcement, Video Analytics. Tags: , , , .

General Dynamics to supply thermal imaging cameras to Border Patrol to spot ultra-light aircraft Tue, 2013-11-05 03:15 PM By: Jacob Goodwin CBP has awarded a contract worth more than $67,000 to General Dynamics Global Imaging Technologies, Inc. to supply its Z-500 long-range thermal imaging cameras for the U.S. Border Patrol to use at its Calexico Station in California to spot criminal organizations crossing the border in ultra-light aircraft.

Digital Ally Receives Order From Evansville, Indiana Police Department For 150 FirstVU HD Body Cameras

Posted by dtaitano 8:48 pm Categories: Customer Implementations, Law Enforcement, Surveillance. Tags: , , , .

(businesspress24) – LENEXA, KS — (Marketwired) — 11/12/13 — Digital Ally, Inc. (NASDAQ: DGLY), which develops, manufactures and markets advanced video surveillance products for law enforcement, homeland security and commercial applications, today announced the receipt of its largest single order for the body camera, which was introduced to the market in the third quarter of 2013. The order, from the Evansville, Indiana police department, will be shipped in the current quarter. The Evansville police department evaluated all of the major body cameras on the market during a 60-day testing period before selecting Digital Ally’s FirstVU HD for its officers. Testing included evaluation of product durability, versatility, ease of use, battery life, video and sound quality, upload and download speeds, and the data storage requirements for a typical officer’s daily shift. “We have sold over 350 FirstVU HD units, including the Evansville order, since the new body camera was officially launched in July 2013, and the FirstVU HD is being tested and evaluated against competitive products by over 150 law enforcement agencies,” stated Stanton E. Ross, Chief Executive Officer of Digital Ally, Inc. “These test and evaluation programs are typically one to three months in duration, and based on an analysis of completed test and evaluation programs, our FirstVU HD has emerged as the top-rated system by a clear majority of the agencies performing the evaluations. We have averaged approximately 20 new police agencies initiating test and evaluation programs per week, with active and completed test and evaluation projects representing […]

The Future Of Body-Worn Cameras For Law Enforcement

Posted by dtaitano 7:28 pm Categories: Law Enforcement, Technologies. Tags: , , .

Email Print Comment RSS TechBeat with the Office of Justice Programs’ National Institute of Justice (NIJ) By Michele Coppola  Tech Beat Magazine  In recent years law enforcement agencies have been experimenting with and using body-worn video cameras. How future cameras can be improved to further officer safety and effectiveness was among the topics discussed at a technology institute sponsored by the Office of Justice Programs’ National Institute of Justice (NIJ). Proponents of body-worn cameras say they protect officers from false accusations, reduce agency liability and citizen complaints, and provide evidence for use in court. Unlike vehicle-mounted cameras, the body-worn cameras travel with the officer when he steps away from the patrol car. They can be attached to a shirt pocket, helmet, glasses or badge, and can serve to augment in-car video systems or provide an option to the expensive in-car systems that some departments cannot afford. Capt. Wayne Hoss of the San Mateo Police Department says that while those arguments carry weight, the current technology has limitations. Why not go further and incorporate technology into body-worn cameras that could substantially increase officer safety? Hoss discussed the current state of body-worn cameras and a future vision for the technology at the NIJ 2013 Technology Institute for Law Enforcement. San Mateo, with a population of approximately 98,000, sits about 20 miles south of San Francisco, near Silicon Valley, which is home to numerous established and start-up high-tech companies. The police department has 100 sworn officers. Hoss says the proximity to the […]

AngelTrax Announces VizuCop ? Innovative In-Car Video Surveillance Solutions

Posted by dtaitano 11:01 pm Categories: Law Enforcement, Mobile / In-Vehicle, Surveillance. Tags: , , , , , .

Email Print Register Bookmark RSS What’s This Newton, Ala. – October, 2013 –  AngelTrax , the rapidly growing, leading supplier of in-vehicle digital video surveillance technology, today announced a new brand –  VizuCop , featuring rugged, in-car mobile surveillance solutions engineered exclusively for the law enforcement industry. The first system to be released – VizuCop 360 – features a patented front-facing, dual lens camera that eliminates the need for manual zooming for clear license plate capture, up to eight HD quality video and audio channels, a solid-state 256GB SATA hard drive or a 128GB SD card and a space saving, LCD rearview mirror monitor. “Entering into the police market was the next logical step for AngelTrax,” said Richie Howard, President of AngelTrax. “We’ve been quietly working on our in-car police system for the last five years and are now proud to release it to the market.” The VizuCop 360 system will be released January 1, 2014. Customers can initially choose from two versions of the system – a 256GB solid-state hard drive version or a 128GB SD card version. The VizuCop 360 system will be introduced publicly for the first time at the IACP Expo, October 20, 2013 in Philadelphia, Pa. AngelTrax executives and engineers worked closely with law enforcement agencies across the country to create an officer-friendly in-car system that would withstand the harsh, oftentimes dangerous environment inherent of police work. Designed to complement standard law-enforcement procedures while meeting the specialized needs of officers in the field, the […]

Man Videotaped PIN Input By Customers At St. Charles Bank’s ATM

Posted by dtaitano 1:35 pm Categories: Law Enforcement, Surveillance. Tags: , .

Svetoslave T. Tanev was charged with forgery in St. Charles County and trafficking in stolen identities in St. Louis County. A man was charged with setting up a video camera at an ATM to record people as they punched in their PINs outside a St. Charles bank. The video camera was found Sept. 19 on an ATM at Enterprise Bank and Trust, 1001 First Capitol Avenue in St. Charles. One man, Svetoslav T. Tanev, 27, of Arlington Heights, IL, was charged Sept. 19 with forgery in St. Charles County Circuit Court. Officer Erik Lawrenz said St. Charles police saw video surveillance footage of the car used by the men who set up the camera. Officers soon located the car in the 1300 block of Bass Pro Drive near Bank of America. Lawrenz said officers do not know if they planned an operation at First Bank of America. The men were staying at a hotel in the same area, Lawrenz said. Police found more than 100 credit cards, an encoding machine and $12,000 in cash in a St. Charles hotel room occupied by Tanev and a second man. Tanev also was charged with trafficking in stolen identities in St. Louis County. Creve Coeur Police said an armored truck driver was refilling an ATM at the US Bank branch at 126880 Olive Blvd. in Creve Coeur when he saw a device attached to the top of the machine. Police found a small video camera trained on the ATM’s keypad to allow […]

Embracing The Police Force Of The Future

Posted by dtaitano 11:47 am Categories: Law Enforcement, Technologies, Video Analytics. Tags: , , , , .

(CNN) – Contrary to the Hollywood image in movies like “Minority Report,” technology hasn’t served law enforcement particularly well over the years. Fragmented and complex operating systems have challenged police officers to manually enter information into multiple programs. And yet officers still struggle to retrieve the information they need — especially in the field, where it can be a matter of life or death. A large number of law enforcement agencies are still hindered by antiquated technologies. But agencies that have upgraded their operating and investigative systems have been tremendously effective in ensuring the safety of their citizens. Police forces like the Guardia Civil in Spain and An Garda Siochana in Ireland were early technology adopters and now benefit from some of the most efficient police operations and investigative systems in the world. These are the police forces of the future — the ones that others will be modeling themselves after in the years to come. Accenture recently studied police forces from around the world and found that in every region, police are hungry for new technology. They see tech such as analytics, biometrics (identification of humans by their characteristics or traits) and facial recognition as keys to effectively fighting crime and maximizing the time officers spend in the field. Despite the reality of reduced budgets, law enforcement agencies that adopt new technologies can prevent crimes more effectively and solve crimes faster. Video analytics What many people don’t know is that there’s a solid infrastructure of closed-circuit TV in […]

The Visitor Control Center At Navy?s Building 197

Posted by dtaitano 12:16 pm Categories: Access Control, Law Enforcement, Military. Tags: , , , , , , .

September 16th, 2013 | Defense | Posted by jim mcelhatton close Author: jim mcelhatton Name : Email: jmcelhatton@federaltimes.com Site: About: See Authors Posts (28)   Access into the Washington Navy Yard’s Building 197, where a shooting rampage in Washington left at least a dozen people dead Monday, includes a security clearance check and vetting by contract-hired “visitor control technicians,” contract records show. Authorities have identified Aaron Alexis, 34, a Navy veteran, as the dead gunman. While it’s unclear how Alexis got into the building Monday morning, the Associated Press reported that he may have used someone’s identification. In April, the Navy hired Kansas-based contractor Transtecs Corp. for “visitor control office support services” at the Washington Navy Yard, according to the government’s online procurement database. While there’s no indication that Transtecs’ work has come under question in the shooting, contract records related to the company’s hiring do shed light on the sort of vetting the Navy requires to get into Building 197, which houses the Navy’s Sea Systems Command. A 30-page task order on the company’s website says Transtecs provides the labor to support the ID badging system and associated equipment at the building. A person who answered the phone for Transtecs Monday said the company declined to comment. Entry into the building includes a check of the Joint Personnel Adjudication System to verify an individual’s clearance level prior to authorizing access, the task order shows. “The contractor shall utilize the government furnished Picture Perfect Access Control System to issue […]