Davenport to upgrade surveillance
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By Tory Brecht | Thursday, June 12, 2008 |
Davenport Police Department’s video surveillance will get a big boost from new software that will allow officers to watch video streaming in from hundreds of cameras around the city to computers in their squads.
Aldermen voted unanimously Wednesday to buy $117,900 worth of software from Raytheon Company and $89,918 of large data storage capacity from Enterprise Virtual Array to make the upgrades possible.
There was discussion by a number of aldermen about the need to quickly adopt a surveillance use policy, limiting the powerful technology to what they called necessary public safety measures.
“Right now, there is no policy set on what the cameras can be used for,” said 2nd Ward Alderman Shawn Hamerlinck. “The last thing I want to see is for them to be used for general surveillance of the population. It must be for public safety professionals only.”
Rob Henry, the city’s information technology director, said the software and storage the city is getting is cutting edge. Recently, he said, members of the Los Angeles Police Department were in Davenport and said the city is further along than L.A. in its use of video surveillance.
Third Ward Alderman Bill Boom, who said he’s concerned about “hot spots” of criminal activity in certain areas of the city, asked Henry if it would be possible for council members to access the cameras via the Internet from their home computers.
“Technically, yes,” he said. “Obviously, that would depend on the policy you ultimately will take a look at and make a decision on.”
Hamerlinck said that type of use is what he’s concerned about. “There must be a policy of responsibility on how we use these cameras,” he said.
Mayor Bill Gluba believes the technology will help the city see crime rates drop.
“If you’re a criminal, you get spotted before you even get started,” he said. “You’re being watched.”
In other business Wednesday night, 4th Ward Alderman Ray Ambrose objected to issuing a temporary outdoor service area permit to Quad-City Gay Pride to sell beer at an event on June 28 in LeClaire Park. Ambrose cast a “no” vote on that item during the consent vote. During last week’s Committee-of-the-Whole meeting he said he objected to the Quad-City Gay Pride group holding its event in a public park.
Tory Brecht can be contacted at (563) 383-2329 or tbrecht@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at qctimes.com.
A CLOSER LOOK
Enhanced capabilities once new software from Raytheon Company is installed in the Davenport Police Department’s surveillance system include:
• Real-time monitoring and recording allowing officers on the street to access any of the 35 remote cameras currently in place. Another 100 cameras could be easily added to the system.
• The possibility of other public entities, like the Davenport Community School District and its 300 cameras — or private businesses — to link their video cameras into the system.
• The ability to handle video from all types of cameras — high and low resolution, analog and digital — on the same video monitoring system.
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