1. In More Cities, A Camera On Every Corner, Park And Sidewalk
by
STEVE
HENN
June
20,
2013
NPR
Enlarge image
Micaela
Torres
and
2-­‐year-­‐old
Jakai
Johnson
swing
underneath
a
surveillance
camera
at
Miwok
Park
in
Elk
Grove,
Calif.
The
city's
police
department
collects
more
than
100
video
feeds
from
across
the
city.
Surveillance
cameras,
and
the
sophisticated
software
packages
that
go
with
them,
have
become
big
business.
Many
small-­‐
and
medium-­‐sized
cities
across
American
are
spending
hundreds
of
thousands
of
dollars
on
cameras
and
software
to
watch
their
residents.
These
systems
use
some
of
the
same
kinds
of
technology
the
New
York
Police
Department
has
deployed
in
lower
Manhattan
to
catch
terrorists.
But
many
cities
are
now
using
the
technology
for
policing
as
mundane
as
preventing
vandalism
at
parks.
A
case
in
point:
Elk
Grove,
Calif.
Elk
Grove
is
a
sleepy
suburb
of
Sacramento
with
a
modest
crime
rate.
It's
bordered
to
the
south
and
west
by
wide-­‐open
ranch
land.
Last
week
I
found
myself
sitting
on
a
swing
in
Miwok
Park,
watching
toddlers,
kids
and
dog
walkers.
It
couldn't
have
been
a
sleepier
scene.
Nonetheless,
I
was
being
watched.
There
was
a
camera
right
above
my
head.
"I
didn't
even
know
that
one
was
there,"
said
Chelsea
Yokkum,
who
was
playing
with
her
son.
Nearby,
a
couple
was
lying
on
a
picnic
blanket,
snuggling.
When
I
walked
up,
interrupting,
they
packed
up
to
go.
They
said
they
knew
there
was
a
camera
above
their
head,
but
that
they
had
no
idea
what
happened
to
the
video
feed.
It
turns
out
it's
sent
directly
to
the
Elk
Grove
Police
Department.
"That
is
kind
of
scary
in
a
sense,"
said
the
man,
who
declined
to
give
his
name.
"Knowing
that
people
are
watching,
no
matter
what."
He's
not
alone.
Many
folks
in
Elk
Grove
who
told
me
they
are
apprehensive
about
these
cameras
didn't
want
to
speak
on
the
record
and
didn't
want
to
be
identified.

2. Laura
Donohue,
a
Georgetown
University
law
professor
who
studies
surveillance
technology,
says
that
kind
of
reaction
to
surveillance
is
common.
She
says
proponents
of
cameras
often
argue
that
people
with
nothing
to
hide
have
nothing
to
fear.
The
mindset,
she
says,
is,
"If
you
are
not
willing
to
submit
to
this,
you
must
somehow
be
doing
something
that
is
illegal."
She
adds:
"I
think
this
is
simply
false."
Elk
Grove
has
invested
hundreds
of
thousands
of
dollars
on
surveillance,
and
it
plans
to
spend
more.
Lawrence
Park
playground
burned
to
the
ground
in
April,
the
result
of
a
suspected
arson.
"I'd
love
to
add
a
camera
to
this
park
if
we
can
find
the
budget
for
it,"
says
Bob
Roessler,
the
administrator
of
the
parks
and
recreation
department.
Roessler
says
the
department
has
already
installed
more
than
30
cameras
in
parks
across
the
city
at
a
cost
per
camera
of
roughly
$10,000.
While
the
parks
officials
install,
pay
for
and
maintain
these
cameras,
the
video
is
shipped
directly
to
the
police
department.
Across
town,
Chris
Hill,
IT
manager
for
the
Elk
Grove
Police
Department,
is
the
man
in
charge
of
building
this
network.
When
I
visited,
he
showed
me
how
video
is
accessible
to
dispatchers
and
showed
off
a
rack
of
servers
—
all
devoted
to
collecting
more
than
100
video
feeds
from
all
over
the
city.
Hill
has
built
a
system
that's
flexible
and
scalable.
More
than
100
feeds
are
viewable
and
searchable
from
his
desk.
"You
can
get
camera
feeds,
you
can
make
any
screens
you
want,
you
can
search
any
video,"
he
says.
We
lean
over
and
watch
men
and
women
streaming
in
and
out
of
a
gym
more
than
two
miles
away.
"This
was
a
known
spot
in
the
city
of
Elk
Grove
that
had
a
high
rate
of
car
burglaries,"
Hill
says.
We
watch
a
woman
open
up
her
minivan
door.
Hill
tracks
her
as
she
gets
in
and
drives
out
of
the
lot.
Then
he
zooms
in
to
read
her
license
plate.
It
would
take
a
single
officer
more
than
four
days
to
watch
all
the
video
recorded
by
the
Elk
Grove
police
in
an
hour
—
but
Hill
would
like
to
get
even
more.
"We
actually
have
a
pilot
project
coming
up
—
hopefully
shortly
—
with
a
local
retailer
that
will
be
giving
us
access
to
their
parking
lot
cameras,"
he
says.
Eventually
he'd
also
like
to
work
with
local
banks
to
get
ATM
camera
feeds.

3. But
Hill
doesn't
want
Elk
Grove's
officers
spending
time
watching
parking
lots
and
writing
down
plate
numbers.
Instead,
there's
software
that
can
do
that
for
them.
To
see
how,
I
traveled
to
the
offices
of
3VR
in
San
Francisco.
The
company
makes
the
software
that
Elk
Grove
uses
to
sift
through
its
recordings.
"Most
people
don't
understand
that
putting
more
cameras
[up]
doesn't
necessarily
yield
more
information,"
says
Al
Shipp,
3VR's
CEO.
The
company
offers
facial
recognition,
license
plate
readers
and
object-­‐based
searches.
Elk
Grove
doesn't
use
all
of
these
services
yet,
but
it
could
add
new
ones
at
any
time.
"Instead
of
watching
hours,
and
maybe
days,
of
video,
you
can
ask
questions
like,
'Show
me
all
red
cars
going
east,'
"
Shipp
says.
"Or,
'Show
me
all
red
cars
going
east
—
fast.'
Or,
'All
red
cars
going
east,
fast,
with
a
partial
plate
of
A-­‐B.'
"Those
are
search
arguments
you
can
do
with
our
technology
and
literally
sort
through
weeks
of
video
in
a
few
seconds,"
he
says.
Software
like
this
can
alert
the
police
when
someone
enters
a
park
after
dark.
Or
it
can
search
for
a
face.
Diego
Simkin,
a
technician
at
3VR,
shows
me
a
search
for
a
suspect
in
a
possible
bank
fraud.
He
clicks
and,
within
seconds,
there
are
pictures
of
the
same
man
walking
into
multiple
banks
on
different
days
up
on
the
screen.
"I
have
the
ability
to
...
search
against
multiple
cameras
on
that
system
or
multiple
systems,"
Simkin
says.
3VR's
corporate
clients
are
already
using
these
kinds
of
searches.
These
technologies
are
a
major
draw
for
police
in
Elk
Grove
and
departments
across
the
country.
The
video
analytics
industry
is
growing
by
30
percent
per
year
and
the
software
alone
is
poised
to
become
a
billion-­‐dollar
business.
"The
idea
that
all
of
this
information
will
be
fed
into
one
place,
I
think
is
a
game-­‐changer
in
terms
of
how
we
look
at
our
world,"
says
Donohue.
She
says
that
while
it's
reasonable
to
expect
someone
will
see
you
lying
in
a
public
park,
"you
do
have
a
reasonable
expectation
that
nobody
is
going
to
be
following
you
around
24
hours
a
day,
seven
days
a
week,
everywhere
you
go."

4. Ms.
Peterson:
Summer
School
English
2013
“In
More
Cities,
A
Camera
On
Every
Corner,
Park
And
Sidewalk”
Reading
Comprehension
and
Discussion
Questions
Directions:
• After
reading
“In
More
Cities,
A
Camera
On
Every
Corner,
Park
And
Sidewalk,”
answer
each
of
the
following
questions
to
the
best
of
your
ability.
• Be
sure
to
use
complete
sentences
and
examples
from
the
text
to
support
your
answers
for
full
credit.
• Answer
the
questions
in
your
notebook
and
leave
space
to
add
notes
based
on
our
discussion.
1. What
does
Chris
Hill
wish
to
gain
from
the
public
surveillance
cameras
located
in
Elk
Grove?
2. What
does
Al
Shipp
say
about
surveillance
cameras
and
what
they
offer?
Does
he
say
they
are
beneficial?
3. Is
this
article
pro-­‐public
surveillance
cameras
or
against
them?
How
do
you
know?
Provide
sufficient
evidence.