Old Fashioned Surveillance Helps Close Sex Offender Loop Hole

For weeks, Pierce County sheriff’s deputies watched the small house in Tacoma’s Hilltop neighborhood, making sure their man was there.

He was a sex offender, convicted of second-degree rape in King County in the 1990s. Under state law, as a Level 3 offender – considered likely to offend again – he had to register with the county and state where he lived so his neighbors could be alerted.

Read more here.

Congress Concerned About NSA Email Surveillance

The US' National Security Agency is facing scrutiny over the breadth of its domestic surveillance program. According to critics in Congress, its recent penetrations of private telephone calls and emails are broader than previously stated, The New York Times reports.

A new law, enacted by Congress in 2008, gave the NSA greater freedom to collect American's private messages as long as such collections were an incidental byproduct of investigating people "reasonably believed" to be overseas. But it is difficult to distinguish between email being sent by ordinary Americans and being sent from foreign countries — a gray area that's driven some lawmakers to question whether the privacy of Americans in general is being adequately protected.

Read more here.

CA Debating Privacy Issue

The California Supreme Court seemed unlikely to authorize employers to spy on their workers with hidden cameras.

At the same time, some members of the court appeared skeptical that two women who discovered a surveillance camera in their office had suffered serious harm.

Meeting for oral argument this past week, the court considered a lawsuit brought by the women against their employer for installing a hidden camera in their office.

Read more here.

Man Opens Fire on Woman After She Rejects Him at Bar

A manhunt is underway for a man who opened fire on a woman after she rejected his advances at a Cleveland bar.

Surveillance cameras were rolling as the man approached the woman inside the bar on St. Clair Avenue Sunday night.

Cleveland Police say the suspect started a conversation with the woman and asked her for a date.

When she declined, his reaction was chilling.

Read more here.

City Establishes Surveillance System to Catch Criminals

A decision last week to buy and install surveillance cameras at key Lake Elsinore locations has marked a new stage in the city’s graffiti-fighting efforts.

“It’s a big piece,” said Mark Dennis, the city’s communications manager. “I think it’s a unique approach that Lake Elsinore has taken.”

To date, a city graffiti task force has spent about a year studying the problem and evaluating various responses.

Since a newcomer’s reaction to a community is often based on first impressions, the task force gave the city’s graffiti problem a high priority, Dennis said.

During their study work, task force members frequently ran across media reports and government accounts that favored the use of surveillance systems.

Read more here.

Libertarian Group Outraged About Camera Surveillance

The cover of the pamphlet Libertarian party members handed out last Thursday is emblazoned with a comic book style poster of a Stalin-esque figure, the headline reading "Big Brother is Watching Yo," the "U" obscured by an Orwellian thought-crime fugitive. The pamphlet's implication being that the fugitive is UNCG students and Big Brother is the closed circuit television (CCTV) camera security system UNCG Police operate on campus.

Read more here.

Surveillance Cam Shows Home Invaders

Clackamas County deputies released surveillance photos Monday of a man being sought in connection with a home invasion.

The incident occurred at 11:55 a.m. on March 12 at an apartment complex on Southeast 82nd Drive in Clackamas. Frances Gibson said she woke up inside her apartment and found a man reaching over her and grabbing for her purse.

"I didn't think it was real at first," Gibson said. "I thought I was dreaming."

Read more here.

Limits on MD Police Surveillance Passed

Maryland police departments must document reasonable suspicion of criminal activity before using covert tactics to investigate political activists, under legislation approved Friday by both chambers of the General Assembly.

After months of controversy over Maryland State Police surveillance of peaceful protest groups, the Senate and House of Delegates unanimously approved separate bills. After slight differences between the two versions are resolved, the legislation is expected to be sent to Gov. Martin O'Malley. A spokeswoman said Friday that he would sign the bill.

Lawmakers crafted the bills in response to the state police program uncovered last summer when the American Civil Liberties Union sued for information about it. The bill, which would also prohibit law enforcement officers from collecting political files on activists not under criminal investigation, applies to all police departments and expands on O'Malley's initial proposal.

Read more here.

Consumer Electronics Affects Video Surveillance

Every January, Las Vegas hosts the Consumer Electronics Show, one of the biggest electronics shows in the world. Five years ago, vendors treated attendees to such innovations as megapixel cameras, next-generation DVD players that used the latest H.264 compression technology, large flat screen TVs and monitors, and new wireless technologies with much improved bandwidth for moving more data over the network. Fast forward to 2008 and look what vendors at the big physical security shows -- ISC West and ASIS -- are now showing: megapixel cameras, H.264 compression, wireless technologies with higher bandwidth and large flat-screen monitors.

In the '70s, it was the military and government that drove technology advancements. In the '80s and '90s, it was the business sector providing the push. Today, the enormous consumer electronics market is the driving force behind new technologies. The shift should not be surprising considering that Consumer Electronics Association reports that consumer electronics have grown into a $700 billion market worldwide. In the $10 billon video surveillance market, vendors are realizing it is smart to piggyback on innovations originally developed for consumers and repurposing them for physical security applications.

Read more to find out some of the consumer electronics trends that will play out in the physical security video surveillance arena in the coming year.

Pittsburg to Add More Surveillance Cameras

You may have not noticed them before, but surveillance cameras are set up in various spots around downtown Pittsburgh.

Now officials are saying that even more cameras may be added to help protect people and businesses. More and more cities are starting to use surveillance cameras to cut crime and are seeing amazing results.

District Attorney Stephen Zappala held a discussion with business owners and groups to talk about the use of surveillance cameras throughout the city's business districts and high crime neighborhoods.

Read more at KDKA.com

Georgia Bill Would Ban Hidden GPS Tracking Devices

Inside a completely ordinary SUV parked anywhere in Metro Atlanta, private investigator T.J. Ward and his team can track anyone at any time, without them knowing.

Instead of the old cat and mouse game, running red lights and swerving through traffic, he can just stick a little box with a 40-pound magnet to the bottom of a car in seconds. As a person drives, a computer program tracks them via satellite, and prints a list of their whereabouts -- even how fast they were going.

Ward's team has been hired by parents after a bitter child custody case, or a spouse. One man, who was married for 18 years, told us, "We used it for several weeks, just tracking where my wife's vehicle was, and just to confirm some suspicions I had."

His suspicions were right, and he's now divorced. He credits the GPS surveillance with saving him millions of dollars in alimony.

Read more at wsbtv.com

Everett (WA) Lawmaker Wants Teacher-Surveillance Restrictions

An Everett lawmaker wants to prevent public schools from conducting video surveillance on teachers without their knowledge.

Currently, students and teachers can be surreptitiously monitored by video if no sound is included in the taping. State law prohibits audio recording of private conversations without consent.

Rep. Mike Sells, D-Everett, has filed a bill restricting such videotaping in reaction to the use of hidden video-surveillance equipment by the Everett School District to investigate a teacher in 2007.

This measure would require that all certified and classified staff must be notified in writing before video surveillance. Also, schools would be required to post written notices outside of every room that may be monitored.

Read more at The Seattle Times.

Surveillance Video Frees 21 Year-Old

A young man who spent nearly a year in jail awaiting trial in a fatal shooting at the Federal Way Transit Center was set free Thursday because surveillance video shows he was not the shooter, his attorney says.

Read more at The Seattle Times.

Study Critical of San Fran Surveillance Cameras

San Francisco’s surveillance cameras in high-crime areas do not prevent violent crime, according to a new study by researchers at the University of California.

The long-awaited study by the UC Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society found the program is hurt by lack of training and oversight, a failure to integrate footage with other police efforts, poor quality cameras, and what may be a fundamental weakness of cameras as anti-crime devices.

Read more a KCBS.

County Seeks Help of Public in American Flag Bible Surveillance

Authorities are looking for help from the public in identifying a suspect from the incident that caused the Jackson County Courthouse to be evacuated Thursday.

The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office released video surveillance footage that shows a man praying over a U.S. flag and a Bible before midnight on Wednesday.

The footage is too grainy for law enforcement to identify the suspect, Jackson County Sheriff Lou Roberts said, and that’s where help from the public comes in to play.

Find the rest of the story at jcfloridian.com.

Surveillance Cameras Going HD to Catch Crooks

The same kind of high definition digital television that's being sold to you is also popping up in the world of private security. From the looks of things, crime fighting will never be the same.

Those fuzzy robbery suspect photos from surveillance sometimes distributed by police could soon become a thing of the past. Crystal clear facial images can be taken from video cameras some distance away, according to security experts. Security experts say the quality of security cameras is getting better, while the cost is coming down.

Some security camera firms such as SuperCircuits sell low-cost undercover cameras disguised as exit signs, tissue boxes and computer speakers for $100 or $200. Higher-end cameras franchised through security firms such as 3xLogic and Digatron are bringing high-definition digital pictures to your local service station and liquor store.

Read the rest of the story at 9news.com.

Guard Arrested Over Illegal Surveillance

A state corrections officer at Gouverneur Correctional Facility placed a surveillance camera in an ornamental birdhouse in his home's bathroom to view guests in the room, state police allege.

Teen Charged in Hit-and-Run Caught on Surveillance Tape

A 17-year-old Custer High School student has been charged in a hit-and-run that was caught on surveillance tape in Milwaukee.

Airimis Spinks is accused of being the driver of a GMC sport utility vehicle that hit Kevin Treskow as he was crossing Martin Luther King Drive on Nov. 18.

Surveilance Cameras Catch County Employee Stealing Gas

A Santa Fe County supervisor is in the middle of a month-long suspension without pay after a hidden camera recorded him gassing up his personal pickup truck from a county pump.

However the county is not calling the disappearance of hundreds of gallons of gasoline a theft despite undercover video showing Frank Jaramillo fueling not only his own truck but loading containers in the back of his county truck.

Employees fill up Santa Fe County vehicles at a county pump every day, but the number of gallons being used wasn't adding up.

British Developing Grenade-like Surveillance Camera

Britain's Defense Ministry is helping develop a grenade-like surveillance camera that would allow troops to "see high-value, high-quality images in realtime video," according to BBC News.

This so-called I-Ball technology grew out of the "competition of ideas" that Whitehall sponsored in 2007.