St. Paul, MN: Street Cameras set up to watch over RNC crowds

The police will be watching our every move. Why don't they have
cameras watching the police? This reminds me of the book "1984." I
have no trust in the police whatsoever.

Street Cameras Will Keep Watch Over RNC Crowds
Reporting
Heather Brown (WCCO) St. Paul has put the final touches on 45 new
cameras that police will use to monitor the downtown area around the
Xcel Energy Center during the Republican National Convention. The
cameras are fixed at most intersections near the arena and fed to the
St. Paul Police Headquarters.

Officers will watch the live feeds 24 hours a day during the
Republican National Convention. A public website with live video of
the feeds will be up and running within the next two weeks.

"There'll be some blind spots here and there, but all of the traffic
corridors and many of the areas around those buildings will be in
plain view," said St. Paul Police Sgt. Jack Serier. He said a team
has been working on the project for 1 1/2 years.

The $2 million system is funded with money from the Department of
Justice to the Republican Convention. All of the cameras will stay in
St. Paul after convention visitors leave, though some of them will be
moved to other parts of downtown.

"It's been an interest of downtown business folks, the people who
live downtown as well as the police department. This was just a great
opportunity to start that process," said Serier.

The project is part of a much larger one to put cameras all over St.
Paul. Serier believes people have come to expect the use of cameras
as technology advances.

Already, there are cameras along the proposed light rail line along
University Avenue. That project was funded with federal
transportation funds. In October, St. Paul police will begin
installing cameras within one mile of the Mississippi River using a
port grant.

St. Paul has also trained members of its mobile field units to use
camcorders during the RNC. Protesters have trained at least 70 people
to carry camcorders, too.

"It's very important that we have evidence showing police misconduct
if it does happen," said Rachael Bengston, a lawyer with the National
Lawyers Guild.

She said a group of legal observers will log the video and keep it in
case of any legal action.

"We hope that that won't take place here in St. Paul," she said. "If
it does, we want to be there to document it to make sure that
people's medical bills and things like that get paid for."

Recordings of the St. Paul cameras will be kept for 10 days, but
Serier said it's the live video that's most important to get
information to officers on the ground.

"It's just another tool for our toolbox as we're doing our work," he
said.

http://wcco. com/rnc/cameras. rnc.security. 2.791275. html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2474184/Poor-insulation-led-to-drugs-raid-on-police-officers-home.html

Poor insulation led to drugs raid on police officer's home

The drugs squad raided a fellow police officer's home because they believed heat pulsating through her poorly insulated roof indicated it was a secret cannabis factory.

Police community support officer Zally Huseyin, 46, a mother of five, was shocked when she answered the door to a team of colleagues who demanded to search her house.

The mistake happened after infra-red images taken by a police helicopter showed Mrs Huseyin's five-bedroom, £400,000 detached property in Lower Cambourne, Cambridgeshire was glowing white hot.

In cannabis factories fluorescent bulbs are used to grow the drug which needs at least eight hours of daylight and temperatures of 59F (15C). The artificial lighting generates a bright white trace on infra-red cameras.

But when embarrassed officers searched Mrs Huseyin's house they found the glowing effect was caused simply by large amounts of heat escaping through the roof.

"They showed me the footage from the helicopter and I couldn't believe it. They said if I hadn't been in they would have broken the door down to get in."

Just look at the fucking Big Brother police state that they've set up with OUR OWN MONEY. This is just so sad how the DoJ's been completely bastardized. So many once-proud American institutions that have been tarnished and sullied in the last 8 years. It's really quite sad that American traditions that stood up to so much in over 200 years suddenly couldn't take the strain anymore and have just collapsed.

I hope we can watch the lonely streets. No one is interested.