More cameras will not help keep our children safe. Stop crime - don't just watch it.
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Larry Hartsook
(423) 420-9477
larry.hartsook@giss911.com
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Doug Marr
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doug.marr@giss911.com
Chicago links school cameras to 911 center
Mayor announces system, says program will provide
'comprehensive' security
By
Gary Washburn | Tribune reporter
March 7, 2008
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More than 4,500 cameras in Chicago public schools are being
connected to police headquarters and the city's 911 center in a technological
upgrade designed to improve safety, officials said Thursday.
In an emergency, arriving officers also will be able to view real-time images
from the cameras on screens in their squad cars.
"The key is getting the information to the police officer in that
car," said Mayor Richard Daley.
Cameras belonging to the Chicago Transit Authority and other
public agencies have been linked to the city's 911 center, and devices in some
public buildings also have been connected as Daley seeks to consolidate video
surveillance.
The mayor, who made the announcement at a news conference Thursday at police
headquarters, said that when the school camera program is completed in the next
few months, Chicago "will have a comprehensive school security system that
will make it far easier for us to respond more quickly and effectively to any
emergency at a school building."
Cameras are installed at about 200 of Chicago's 650 public schools, including
all high schools and some administrative buildings.
Until now, they have been monitored only at the Board of Education's central
office.
The city is using $418,000 in federal Homeland Security funding to make the new
connections.
"Many of the schools have different types of systems," said Cmdr.
Jonathan Lewin, the Police Department's technology chief. "Schools are of
varying ages. Some have systems over 10 years old ... That all had to be
integrated together to a common platform."
Mr Washburn,
I've been working in International Security for years, and I want to pull my hair out when I read another article about Tax Payer money being spent for Cameras.....not a bad thing entirely, but what you folks don't get in your own article is the word "Response". If you are responding - then bad things have already happened, so you may as well take a mop and bucket with you to clean. Why doesn't anyone use the Proactive Theat Assessment system which is effectively being used in Israeli and in the world of Special Ops. It is less costly and prevents - instead of responds to, an emergency. Tell me of one school shooting in the last two years in which the shooter didn't kill themselves (also a method used by terrorist "suicide bombers"; or read about Beslan, Russia; or any recent shooting at an American College or High School in the last year). Cameras need someone monitoring them (a big flaw); need to be turned on, or in working order (what about a power outage?); and can be defeated easily. The incidents of school violence/shootings will be greatly diminished when this country realizes that being response oriented means bad things have already happened, and begins to use proactive measures. But for some unknown reason we would prefer to suffer these school shootings, followed by great outpourings of grief and bewilderment and then spend inordinate amounts of money on all sorts of technology and response systems that aren't particulary effective or integrated to demonstrate our resolve and ending the violence. Then the next shooting we will do it all over again. Why not spend less on a more effective and proven system than fortune afterwards (not including the expense of lawsuits). I'd love to see the media ask some tougher question that evolve around the above information. Watch the law enforcement officers hurumpf and say they are taking care of it without even realizing that they are RESPONDERS - not PREVENTERS. Need them but they aren't the solution.
Sincerely,
Doug Marr
(770) 924-8649
(770) 630-0124
www.giss911.com
Terrorists come to kill and then to die. It does not matter if they are from Iraq, Iran, or our own street, the mindset is the same. They want to be seen, heard, and make their point known. They welcome cameras. The media is invited. Symbols, places, dates, and actions are chosen to yield the greatest impact.
It is time we understand that the answer is not in how many cameras are watching our schools, banks, hospitals, chemical plants, airports, or trucking companies. The answer is in a proactive approach that impedes, halts, and controls those who would do harm.
Be Proactive. Stop Terrorism Before It Happens.
Don't just watch and then have to clean up the mess.
Reactive thinking costs lives.
To Protect Your Data You Must First Protect Your Facility.
To Protect Your Facility You Must Protect Your People.
To Protect Your People You Must First Protect Your Data.
Unless Data, Facility, and People are all protected You, Your People, and Your Facility are Vulnerable.
GISS Specialized in Complete and Integrated Solutions.
