Chicago Will Be the Most Watched City in America

On a sunny Thursday afternoon, a black SUV circles a downtown office building four times.  Meanwhile, over at the city park around the corner, a blue backpack sits on a bench, unattended.

 

Likely the driver of car is just looking for a parking spot, and the owner of the backpack just forgot it there and will come rushing back to get it in a few minutes, hoping his iPod in it hasn’t been stolen.

 

But, there’s also a chance that the driver is scoping out a crime scene, or the innocuous-looking backpack contains a ticking bomb.  In this modern society of fear, threats like these are more common than we’d like to believe.

 

So the city of Chicago is doing something about it by beefing up their video surveillance systems.  In September of 2007, city officials announced the first phase of what could prove to be one of the most technologically advanced surveillance systems in the United States.

 

"Chicago is really light years ahead of any metropolitan area in the U.S. now," said Sam Docknevich, who heads video surveillance systems consulting for IBM.

 

Mayor Richard M. Daley believes Chicago’s bold move will inspire other cities across the country.  "We're so far advanced than any other city – and sometimes the state and federal governments – they come here to look at the technology," Daley said.

 

In fact, a sophisticated network of video camera surveillance systems is already in place in

Chicago, installed under the name Operation Disruption.  Some of these cameras can detect the sound of a gunshot, even if a silencer is used.  The camera then swivels towards the sound, recording any visual evidence, and alerts the police at the same time. 

 

The new system proposed last month would be on dynamic alert 24 hours a day, seven days a week.  It won’t just record images; it would actively analyze them in real time.  For example, a high-tech camera in the city’s new surveillance systems could recognize the license plate on a stolen car.  Or it could notice that unattended blue backpack and call the police.  Such high-tech surveillance systems would be like superhuman cops who never get tired or bored, who are always focused, and who are steadfastly suspicious. 

 

As of October 2007, there is no definite timeline established for when the new surveillance systems will be in place.  "The complexity of the software is going to define how quickly we are able to do this," said Kevin Smith, spokesman for the city's Office of Emergency Management and Communications.

 

The introduction of Chicago’s super-advanced surveillance systems comes just as the city is vying to host the 2016 Olympic Games.  "The eventual goal is to have elaborate video surveillance well in advance of the 2016 Olympics," said Bo Larsson, CEO of Firetide Inc., the company providing the wireless connectivity for the project.  Such sophisticated security would definitely be attractive to Olympic officials. 

 

The cost of the new series of surveillance systems has not been revealed, but the Department of Homeland Security will be footing much of the bill. 

 

Among the comments posted at a website reporting the new surveillance systems, one person wrote:  “Since I've been on the monitoring side of these cameras, I can make a case for the kind of deterrence they can be.  I've been able to watch a suspicious situation about to come down when monitoring an entire city block (and more) of downtown L.A.  With such an advantage, there has been more than one time that I only had to walk out of my office complex in uniform and watch potential perps scatter.”