Surveillance Camera News
(assorted press releases and news items June 2000)
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
BC-MT--Biker Funeral, Police watch funeral; mourners watch back
MISSOULA (AP) _ The funeral of a slain motorcycle gang member
Saturday brought mourners in black leather and drew the interest
of local police who wanted to see who attended.
Frederick ``Bulldog'' Entzel of Missoula was shot to death in a
motorcycle gang-related fight last week near Yakima, Wash.
While his family and leaders of the Bandito motorcycle gang
attended an hourlong funeral service at the Garden City Funeral
Home, at least 50 other gang members wearing their yellow and
red colors stood guard.
Across the street, a small contingent of police watched the
funeral gathering using binoculars, telephoto lenses and video
cameras. The gang members used their own supply of
surveillance equipment to watch back.
After the services, a procession of about 85 motorcyclists and
several dozen vehicles followed the hearse carrying Entzel's
casket to Riverview Cemetery in Stevensville, where he was
buried.
Sgt. Mike Brady said Missoula police were ``basically interested in
seeing who shows up.''
The Banditos, one of the largest motorcycle gangs in the country,
have been relatively quiet in Missoula during the past five years
but, police have seen more action in the past six months, Brady
said.
``We haven't had any criminal activity,'' Brady said. ``We've just
seen more of them around on their bikes, wearing the colors.
They're just a little more of a presence.''
Entzel's death has heightened concerns Missoula police have
about the Hells Angels four-day vacation planned for July 27-31 in
Missoula.
Missoula police Chief Pete Lawrenson has said the Angels and
Banditos have agreed to peacefully coexist while the Angels are in
Missoula. However, that agreement was reached before the Entzel
shooting.
``We don't really expect anything to happen because of this, but
it's something that concerns us,'' Brady said. ``It concerns us
that a member of a local group has been killed. We don't really
know what to expect.''
AP-NY-06-25-00 0131EDT
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
BC-LA--Defendant Skips,La Bjt,BMA,0506
Accused coke dealer didn't like what he
saw, so ...
em2520bc
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) _ The lawyer for accused cocaine dealer
Kevin Bowie had seen other videotaped evidence before, but what
Bowie saw before Tuesday's trial apparently created grave doubts
about his future.
Bowie went on the lam after seeing a videotape showing him
holding what seemed to be a bag of cocaine in his hand, his
attorney said. The jury saw the tape later that day and convicted
Bowie in his absence.
State District Judge Bill Morvant ruled that Bowie, who reportedly
has at least nine aliases, four birth dates and two Social Security
numbers, had voluntarily removed himself from his trial, prosecutor
Charles Grey said on Wednesday.
That meant that Bowie could be tried in his absence, Grey said.
``It's difficult trying a case to an empty chair,'' said Grey, who in
15 years as a prosecutor had never before tried an absent
defendant. ``But the state didn't make the chair empty. The
defendant chose to have an empty chair in front of the jury.''
Sheriff's deputies set up surveillance cameras outside a house
in February and March 1999 after neighbors complained about
open-air drug activity, Grey said. Deputies arrested eight people,
including Bowie, whose age ranges from 21 to 23, according to
court papers.
Bowie's attorney, Edward Partin, said he got 16 hours of
surveillance videotapes from prosecutors about four months ago,
and scoured them for anything incriminating. Partin said he found
nothing.
Then, about two weeks before the trial started, Partin said Grey
gave him a ``condensed'' version of the tapes. Partin said he
figured he had already seen what was on the new version, so he
didn't look at it until he and Bowie viewed it Tuesday morning.
What they saw surprised them, Partin said. ``There he is with an
alleged bag of cocaine in his hand,'' Partin said. ``The video was
very incriminating.''
When Bowie saw the tape, Partin said he tried to convince him
that he could get Judge Morvant to not allow it as evidence.
Partin said he and Bowie agreed to meet at the courthouse, just a
few blocks from Partin's office, in less than an hour.
Partin said Bowie told him that he was going outside to smoke a
cigarette. That was the last time Partin said he saw Bowie.
``When I stepped out of my office probably three minutes behind
him, that's when I knew he wasn't coming to court,'' Partin said.
``I did not have anything to do with him not showing up in court.''
Grey said the jury convicted Bowie of two counts of distribution of
cocaine. Each count carries from five to 30 years in prison.
The jury acquitted Bowie on one count of distribution that was
not caught on tape, Grey said. ``They just went with the video,''
he said.
Judge Morvant issued an arrest warrant Tuesday for Bowie, who
had been out of jail pending the outcome of the trial.
AP-NY-06-22-00 0140EDT
00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
"Big Brother": Let the hoopla begin.
CBS yesterday officially unveiled the Studio City, Calif.-based
house-which is more like a "house trailer"-where 10 strangers will
spend 100 days and nights under constant camera surveillance
starting July 5. As expected, there was hype (one of the most
ambitious programs in recent CBS history, executives told
assembled reporters). There were new details (no, there will be no
nudity). There were lots of rules (participants, for example, will be
allowed only $5 per day budget). But there was something
missing, and-considering the flak this show took before it hit the
air in Germany and the Netherlands-that in itself was surprising.
There was no controversy.
Leslie Moonves, CBS Television chief, was asked about the
propriety of voyeurism on a show such as this, but he noted, "I
don't think it is necessarily bad [and] I think there's a desire to
see this kind of programing ... I have no problem with it. This is a
different kind of programing and once again, I always say, there
are 500 channels. You don't like it, change the channel." He
added, "Nobody shy is going in there."
Indeed not. Ten contestants will be under the constant gaze of
28 cameras and, perhaps, millions of AOL subscribers. (AOL will
be exclusive distributor of "Big Brother" to Internet users.) CBS will
broadcast the show five nights a week, Monday through Saturday
(with Wednesdays off), during a period of 89 days. (Every two
weeks, one individual will be voted out of the house, until only
three remain; the winner, who will be voted by the TV audience,
will win $500,000.) Contestants were not identified
yesterday, but John de Mol, chief executive of Endemol, the
Dutch company that sold the show to CBS, noted, "I can tell you
they are very motivated and interesting people that you will
sometimes love and sometimes hate."
Moonves also unequivocally stated yesterday that there will be no
nudity or profanity on the program. Cameras have been set up in
the bathroom of the house (which is 1,800 square feet) to
prevent people from having secret meetings, he explained.
Only one outstanding question now: The Dutch and the Germans
watched, but will Americans?
06/22/2000 00:28:54
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Privacy-Cameras
HL:B.C.'s privacy commissioner says videotape surveillance on rise
VICTORIA (CP) The provincial privacy commissioner says British
Columbians' every move is falling increasingly under the eye of
video surveillance cameras.
David Loukidelis said in a report release Wednesday it's getting so
bad that in a few years people may not be able to walk down a
street or take a bus without being monitored.
``There is a very real risk that within a few short years, British
Columbians could find themselves subjected to pervasive, routine
and random surveillance of their ordinary, lawful activities,''
Loukidelis said in a news release.
He has issued guidelines for the use of video surveillance
systems by government agencies.
The guidelines say cameras should only be deployed as a last
resort and where they are justified on the grounds of security,
public safety and threats of crime.
As well, before surveillance cameras are put in place, an
assessment of the privacy impacts should be done and sent to
the privacy commissioner's office for review.
Loukidelis said government agencies using surveillance cameras
must consider the serious privacy implications of the technology.
``These systems are not a cure-all. Their privacy implications
require extreme caution and I consider their effectiveness for law
enforcement purposes to be open to question in many, if not all,
cases.''
Copyright (c) 2000 The Canadian Press 06/21/2000 17:58:42
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
BC-MI--Park Surveillance,
City plans to install surveillance cameras at three parks
BRIGHTON, Mich. (AP) _ Officials in this Livingston County
community have a high-tech plan to keep an eye on activity in
three parks.
They are installing video cameras that will monitor the outdoor
areas in full color, 24 hours a day.
``The footage would be reviewed on an `as needed basis,''' Police
Chief Michael Kinaschuk said. ``If there was vandalism, arson or
some other problem.''
The city has been working on the surveillance system for two
years. It will be connected by fiber-optic lines to the Brighton
police station, where the images will be fed to a bank of monitors.
Five cameras will be placed around the downtown Mill Pond and
Playscape, and one at the Meijer skate park. More cameras could
be added in the future, Kinaschuk said.
Officials in a dozen Detroit-area cities said they have not heard of
surveillance cameras being used in public places. Two
subdivisions in Macomb Township, Cornerstone Village and Brittney
Park, installed cameras to watch public pools and bus stops.
As long as the public knows about the existence of the cameras,
they are not a big problem, said Carrie Moss, executive director of
the Michigan branch of the American Civil Liberties Union.
``We do have privacy concerns, but that being said, we also
recognize the need to the extent that this really promotes a
legitimate safety concern,'' Moss told The Detroit News for a
Sunday story.
Brighton's system cost about $75,000. ``I think for safety
purposes it will be a great tool because our community has grown
so much,'' Mayor Kate Lawrence said.
Lori Blackwell brings her 5-year-old daughter, Dana, to the play
area regularly. She said the cameras are a good idea because
some parents are lax in watching their children.
``I've noticed that a lot of parents sit down on the sides and let
their kids run wild,'' Blackwell said. ``Anybody could come in there
and take your kid.''
AP-NY-06-18-00 1911EDT
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
What's Missing From a 'Safer' Sanctuary
The Washington Post via Dow Jones
Publication Date: Sunday June 18, 2000
Outlook; Page B05
Copyright 2000, The Washington Post Co. All Rights Reserved
By Henry G. Brinton
Most of us think of churches as sanctuaries, in the broadest
sense--a place to escape the heat of the day, the hustle of the
city, the noise of competing ideas. That's why I've always wanted
my church to be an open and welcoming place, like those great
cathedrals of Europe. I like to think my church is a place where
anyone can come, at any time--to pray, to meditate, to admire
the architecture, or simply to pause and reflect.
But visit Calvary Presbyterian on any weekday and you'll find the
large wooden doors locked. Since a robbery at Easter, our concern
about security has heightened--and with good reason. We're not
the only local church to have suffered. A colleague of mine
recently had all her cash and credit cards taken by a well-dressed
man who walked into her church office "just to use the phone."
The entire Sunday offering was stolen from another Presbyterian
church here in Alexandria. And we've all read about the murder of
Monsignor Thomas Wells who was found slain in his Germantown
rectory June 8. We can't pass the robbery at Calvary off as a
simple instance of bad luck.
Given our society's loss of respect for the sacred, perhaps I
shouldn't be surprised to find that criminals are targeting churches
along with convenience stores in their quest for quick cash.
Robbery is an ever-present possibility today, which is why tellers
at most banks speak to us from behind reinforced glass, and video
cameras record our every move as we select a six-pack of soda
from the shelf at some corner stores. However reluctantly, most
of us have grown accustomed to this kind of vigilance in the world
of commerce. But such defensive behavior tears at the very heart
of what a church is about--fostering a sense of trust and
community. Crime creates a peculiar tension for churches that
want to be open and welcoming to all people and, at the same
time, safe and secure for church members and employees.
Rebecca Yeboah, an elder at Calvary, recalls the sense of disbelief
she felt at Easter, when someone entered our choir room during
the service and made off with two purses. "I was sad, but at the
same time, didn't believe it," says Rebecca, who was one of the
victims. "Especially on Easter--Resurrection Day--I thought people
would be thinking about Jesus."
Our thief no doubt had other thoughts--and the happy
pandemonium of Easter morning provided a nice cover for the
crime. After all, on a day when a church is swarming with visitors,
there's no way an usher can tell the difference between a person
looking for spiritual nourishment and a person searching for
snatchable goods. And somehow I don't think that posting
security guards to check all bags and parcels at the door would
send the right message to the community!
Now Rebecca carries her purse with her at all times in the church,
or makes sure that the choir room is locked before she leaves it
(the buzz in church circles is that choir rooms are popular targets,
because singers often stash their purses there while serving in the
sanctuary). She is also recommending that we lock all the church
doors, except the front one, to outsiders once the worship service
begins, an idea that still needs to be more fully debated. She felt
her loss keenly--not just because ofthe cash and credit cards
that disappeared, but because her purse also held immigration
papers for her recently adopted Ghanaian daughter. Fortunately,
after several anxious days, "everything worked out," she reports.
The papers were replaced by the Immigration and Naturalization
Service.
So just what is the proper balance between security and
openness? While locked doors and security systems are becoming
the norm, few pastors would want to secure the sanctuary while
the church is open for business. I doubt there was any
way--short of equipping the church with metal detectors and
armed guards--to prevent a gunman from entering Wedgewood
Baptist Church in Fort Worth last September and opening fire on a
group of young people, killing seven before turning the gun on
himself. Access has tobe allowed for prayer and worship, says Ron
Christian, a Lutheran pastor in the Washington area since 1965,
and "if someone is intent on the robbery of chancel items or the
destruction of property--well, this will just have to be allowed for
the sake of 'freedom.' "
I share Ron's commitment to openness, but I am beginning to
wonder if this idealism is related in some ways to the dominance of
Christianity in Western culture. Perhaps we can no longer rest
assured that our sacred spaces will continue to hold the
community's respect. Talking to Jack Moline, rabbi of Agudas
Achim Congregation in Alexandria, brought that home to me. I
learned that his congregation is more concerned about being
"secure" than "open"--and this is understandable, given the
history of antisemitism. "Jews have been concerned about
synagogue security for hundreds of years," he told me, "and we
are briefed regularly by the Jewish Community Council, the
Anti-Defamation League and the FBI, especially whenever there
has been an attack on a Jewish or Israeli institution, as copycat
crimes are frequent. The effect is to create a gnawing feeling of
insecurity which is historically usual, but still heartbreaking,
especially when we have to explain it to our unsuspecting kids."
Synagogues around the world have had to become accustomed to
putting safety first.
The incidents we have experienced at Calvary are hardly
comparable with the sort of religious persecution that Jack is
talking about, but I'm afraid that the feeling of insecurity he talks
about is also becoming part of the atmosphere of some churches.
Any attack on a community of faith hurts. Ron Christian tells me
that the organ was stolen from the church he started, Lord of Life
Lutheran in Northern Virginia, on the night before Thanksgiving.
"Kids [were] after the keyboard," Ron explained to me, "and the
'guts' to help their rock band." My divinity school classmate, Leah
Schafer, says, "My D.C. church had so much theft, I was on a
first-name basis with the fingerprint team! I think that same
'circle' knew it took about seven to 10 weeks to replace the
equipment that was stolen, and then they hit us again." And Jan
Edmiston, co-pastor of a Presbyterian church in Alexandria,
reports that three wallets have been stolen from her study,
forcing her to lock her door whenever she leaves the room. At
leasttwo VCRs have also been taken and a number of purses
stolen during choir practice and children's events.
These increased threats are forcing many pastors and church
leaders I've talked with to step up their vigilance. No, we don't
preach from behind bulletproof glass or maintain video
surveillance of our services, but most of us now have burglar
alarms and locked doors. After a very belligerent man stormed into
Calvary's office one day--threatening my secretary, pushing her,
taking her money and forcing her to flee to the kitchen, where she
called 911--we installed an intercom by the front door. Now, ifyou
want to visit the church during the week, you have to identify
yourself and wait for the door to be opened.
Does this destroy our sense of open sanctuary? In part. But the
safety of church members and employees has to be my first
concern. Most of my colleagues seem to agree, commenting that
"no one expects us to put our church at risk," and observing that
necessary safety precautions are becoming more accepted as the
awareness of random violence increases. One female minister told
me that a concern for personal safety has sometimes led her to lie
if she is afraid. "On a couple of occasions, I have been in the
secretary's office when someone has come in requesting a private
conversation with 'the pastor,' assuming I am one of the
secretaries," she told me. "If the person seems inebriated or
dangerous, I simply say, 'He's not here right now.' "
However necessary they may be, such defensive strategies are
always going to stand in tension with a church's desire to be open
to all. Not long ago, a troubled man came to Calvary's door
seeking help. He was wrestling with some mental problems and
asked for prayer from the elders of the church. I arranged for a
small group to gather the next Sunday, and we prayed over
him--a moving spiritual experience for us all.
If we had been unwilling to open our doors, that man would not
have found a place of sanctuary with us. He has since returned to
sit and pray by himself on weekdays, and says he considers
Calvary his church. That's a connection with the community that
many churches hope for, but one that can be lost if doors are
locked too tight.
Henry Brinton is pastor of Calvary Presbyterian Church in
Alexandria.
ill,,emmanuel kerner for twp
(END)
Copyright (c) 2000 The Washington Post
06/18/2000 10:28:44
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
BC-MI--Park Surveillance, City plans to install
surveillance cameras at three parks
BRIGHTON, Mich. (AP) _ Officials in this Livingston County community
have a high-tech plan to keep an eye on activity in three parks.
They are installing video cameras that will monitor the outdoor areas
in full color, 24 hours a day.
``The footage would be reviewed on an `as needed basis,''' Police
Chief Michael Kinaschuk said. ``If there was vandalism, arson or some
other problem.''
The city has been working on the surveillance system for two years.
It will be connected by fiber-optic lines to the Brighton police station,
where the images will be fed to a bank of monitors.
Five cameras will be placed around the downtown Mill Pond and
Playscape, and one at the Meijer skate park. More cameras could be
added in the future, Kinaschuk said.
Officials in a dozen Detroit-area cities said they have not heard of
surveillance cameras being used in public places. Two subdivisions in
Macomb Township, Cornerstone Village and Brittney Park, installed
cameras to watch public pools and bus stops.
As long as the public knows about the existence of the cameras, they
are not a big problem, said Kary Moss, executive director of the
Michigan branch of the American Civil Liberties Union.
``We do have privacy concerns, but that being said, we also
recognize the need to the extent that this really promotes a legitimate
safety concern,'' Moss told The Detroit News for a Sunday story.
Brighton's system cost about $75,000. ``I think for safety purposes it
will be a great tool because our community has grown so much,'' Mayor
Kate Lawrence said.
Lori Blackwell brings her 5-year-old daughter, Dana, to the play area
regularly. She said the cameras are a good idea because some
parents are lax in watching their children.
``I've noticed that a lot of parents sit down on the sides and let their
kids run wild,'' Blackwell said. ``Anybody could come in there and take
your kid.''
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
A Traffic Camera That Isn't
The Washington Post via Dow Jones
Publication Date: Thursday June 15, 2000
Metro; Page B07
Copyright 2000, The Washington Post Co. All Rights Reserved
By Ann O'Hanlon
Washington Post Staff Writer
The sign near an Alexandria intersection is meant to be intimidating.
"Warning," it blares, accompanied by flashing yellow lights. "Photo red
light enforcement."
Sure enough, as the driver approaches the intersection of Duke Street
and West Taylor Run Parkway, there's the camera, painted bright
yellow and staring down, waiting to snatch violators.
But the camera is a fraud. No film, no photos. Nonetheless, according
to city staff, since its installation nearly a year ago, the number of
red-light violations at the intersection has dropped by half.
Despite its success, the fakery has raised a weighty policy question: Is
it all right for a government to lie to the public, if the lie doesn't hurt
anyone or actually does some good?
No, says City Council member Redella S. "Del" Pepper (D), who bristles
at the practice.
"It's dishonest," Pepper said. "I think it just erodes your credibility as a
city government."
Pepper does not dispute the success, but that's not the point, she
said.
"The choice should not be between being deceptive and having nothing
there at all," she said. She pushed colleagues to buy a real camera for
the intersection, but they balked at the cost of almost $300,000
annually.
Council member David G. Speck (D) defends the make-believe camera
and, as if to tease his colleague Pepper, routinely announces that it's a
fraud.
"There's a fake camera at Taylor Run Parkway and Duke," he said at a
council meeting on Tuesday night. "Anybody miss that? It's a fake
camera."
At three other city intersections, actual surveillance goes on, but
city workers rotate a single camera around the three sites.
"We don't have a camera in any [one] location all of the time," Speck
observed. "There's a deceptive element to all of it."
On a more serious note, he referred to the epidemic of aggressive
driving.
"I think this is a problem that's so pervasive and so dangerous, that if
there are things we can do to stop it--things that don't cause harm in
their deception--I'm all for it," he said.
City police occasionally get calls from guilty motorists, wanting to know
when their tickets for running the red light at Duke and Taylor Run will
arrive, according to police spokeswoman Amy Bertsch.
It can get confusing, she said.
"We do not want citizens to have the impression that surveillance is
taking place somewhere 24 hours a day when it's not," she said. "It's
unfair to people who believe that enforcement is going on."
Even the police are sometimes fooled.
"We have had officers call and request a photo for an accident they're
investigating at that scene," she said.
Greg Lalla, a NASA engineer who lives near the intersection, said
yesterday that he and his friends don't run the light, because they
have always believed there was a camera there.
Told by a reporter that there is no camera, Lalla admitted he may
change his ways.
"Now that I know [there is no camera], if the light was yellow, I
probably would go through it," he said.
Spokesmen for the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety and the
Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety lauded the growing national
trend of authentic red-light cameras and said they believe
Alexandria's fake is unique.
Stuart Mackintosh, spokesman for the Advocates for Highway and Auto
Safety, called it "ill-advised" and a "feel-good measure."
"We don't want people to get the message that this type of
enforcement measure is not to be taken seriously," he said.
But Mayor Kerry J. Donley (D) defended the practice.
"When you go duck hunting, sometimes you've got to put a few decoys
out there," he said.
(END) 02:52 EDT June 15, 2000
-((((OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO))))-
Spy Satellites Evolve Into Private Eye in the Sky
Los Angeles Times via Dow Jones
Publication Date: Tuesday June 13, 2000
Page A-1
Los Angeles Times (Home Edition)
Copyright 2000 / The Times Mirror Company
By ROBERT LEE HOTZ
TIMES SCIENCE WRITER
Since January, John Pike has been taking his own satellite pictures of
the world's most secret military bases and then making them public on
the Internet.
The images and the debate they have provoked are an experiment in
the high technology of democracy, for anyone now can share a view
from orbit once reserved solely for those with the highest of
superpower security clearances.
Like the fax machine, pirate radio and encrypted e-mail, the
commercial imaging satellite is becoming a tool of grass-roots political
action.
Pike, an owlish policy wonk with a derisive drawl and a horselaugh, is
producing detailed vistas of the classified landscape: a nuclear
weapons plant in India, a plutonium production facility in Pakistan,
military airfields on the China coast, a missile base in North Korea, even
the infamous Area 51 at Groom Lake, Nev.--perhaps the most
restricted military reservation in the Americas.
Not so many years ago, any one of those pictures might have landed
him in jail.
Today, however, Pike makes each new image public with impunity on
an Internet site maintained by the Federation of American Scientists,
where he works.
Indeed, the way private surveillance satellites are being linked to the
Internet is more than an electronic convenience. It is the inevitable
next step in an information revolution that with dizzying speed is
transforming what we can know about our world and who controls that
knowledge.
With as many as 11 companies in five countries planning to launch
private imaging satellites in the next few years, it is only a matter of
time and market competition before anyone can afford to see just
about anything on Earth at any time, no matter what the
weather--with little more than a home computer and a ready credit
card.
That is a radical departure from the decades of secrecy shrouding U.S.
and Russian surveillance satellites, when even the name of the office
that managed U.S. intelligence satellites was classified. The U.S.
government did not loosen its national security restrictions enough to
permit the launch of such sharp commercial eyes in space until 1994.
Not until this year--when the first of those new privately owned,
high-resolution imaging satellites actually became operational--did such
crisp pictures from space go on sale.
"The commercial imaging data has fundamentally changed things," said
Vipin Gupta, a senior systems analyst who specializes in satellite
imaging at Sandia National Laboratories.
"Not only are the skies open but the data can be disseminated to
anyone at a market price. You are opening up possibilities on how
these images can be used in ways that defy imagination."
They can make everyone an eyewitness in a world in which
anyone--not just Big Brother--can be watching.
Seeing 3-Foot-Square Objects From 423 Miles
Pike buys his images from a privately owned satellite called Ikonos,
launched by Space Imaging in Thornton, Colo., last September, the
first private, high-resolution imaging satellite to reach orbit safely.
The clarity of its images rivals the best the military can command.
Anyone can buy images from its picture archive--growing by 23,000
square miles of new territory every day--through the firm's Web site at
http://www.spaceimaging.com/.
From 423 miles above Earth, the Kodak camera aboard Ikonos can
peer through fog and haze and into shadows to detect objects on the
ground as little as 3 feet square--twice the resolution of any other
commercially available satellite imagery.
Indeed, Ikonos is sharper than the secret satellites used to safeguard
U.S. national security at the height of the Cold War and about
one-tenth as sharp as the most advanced government
photoreconnaissance satellites today, several arms control experts
said.
And in the next month or so, a federal advisory panel is expected to
decide whether companies should be allowed to sell satellite imagery
twice as sharp as currently allowed.
"By 2003 all the countries and companies involved are claiming they will
have a system equivalent to ours on orbit," said John R. Copple, Space
Imaging's chief executive.
By that time, Copple plans to be launching an imaging satellite able to
produce color images with a resolution of about 19 inches--twice that
of the Ikonos in orbit today. Doubling the resolution means that the
resulting pictures will be four times easier to interpret, Pike said.
Already, the new generation of commercial imaging satellites is eroding
every nation's sense of privacy.
The satellite images offer ways to second-guess governments, blur
national borders and rearrange a host of relationships that until now
depended on the ability to hide things--even entire cities--from the
public's prying eyes.
Even from orbit, a photograph of an unguarded moment can speak
volumes.
For example, U.S. government satellite images of newly dug mass
graves in Kosovo and Bosnia have been used to call attention to
possible war crimes, showing that human rights abuses can be
detected from orbit.
"It is sort of like visual truth serum," said Space Imaging Vice President
Marc Bender.
Commercial satellite imaging eventually promises to transform
everything from arms control and human rights investigations to
environmental monitoring and pollution control, several satellite experts
said.
"There are a whole bunch of non-government groups who are trying to
do this," said Ann M. Florini, an expert at the Carnegie Endowment for
Peace on commercial satellite policy. "There are enormous potential
applications in environmental issues and in humanitarian relief."
Eco-activists could use the satellites to monitor destructive logging
practices, mining operations and remote construction projects as easily
and inexpensively as emergency planners can use them to map storm
damage and flood debris.
In California, some environmentalists already have started ordering
Ikonos images.
The Center for Natural Lands Management is using the satellite to
monitor the habitat of an endangered lizard that lives among the sand
dunes of the 20,000-acre Coachella Valley Preserve north of Palm
Springs. An environmental consulting firm is using the satellite to gauge
the impact of land development between Sacramento and Lake Tahoe.
It is only a matter of time, Gupta said, before networks of amateur
Earth watchers spring up and use the new satellites to systematically
monitor the planet from orbit, routinely posting their discoveries on the
Web, just as thousands of amateur astronomers today systematically
scan the heavens for new comets.
A Way to Verify Government Claims
When Space Imaging announced it was ready to start selling Ikonos
images in January, John Pike was among the first in line.
As a matter of business planning, company executives expected their
$750-million corporate gamble on orbital imaging would be repaid by
customers in agriculture, urban planning, insurance and a range of
other areas that depend on detailed mapping. They expected their
best customer to be the federal government and foreign governments
that could not afford to launch their own satellites.
The company began the year with a backlog of orders for Ikonos
images totaling about $15 million, mostly from commercial customers
and NASA. Unwilling to disclose more specific sales figures, company
officials said that new orders for images so far were strong--at up to
$5,000 apiece to commission each new view. Customers have been
divided equally between companies and foreign governments.
Sales to the U.S. government so far have been slow, Copple said.
Earlier this year, the Defense Department vowed to increase
government spending on commercial space images by 800% over the
next five years, but that promise has yet to make its way into a
federal budget appropriation.
But the most public application of the Ikonos images so far has been to
serve as a check on government pronouncements in the global game of
nuclear bluff and bluster.
It is a topic of special interest to the Federation of American
Scientists, a policy think tank that was founded by members of the
Manhattan Project who produced the first atomic bomb.
Over the decades, it has tried to act as a knowledgeable, independent
voice in debates over the science and technology of global security.
Like so many groups that challenge government policies, it frequently is
handicapped by official secrecy.
So, Pike and his colleagues at the federation's Public Eye Project
regarded the ability to commission their own spy satellite images of
secret bases with something resembling glee.
Funded by the Rockefeller Foundation and the John D. and Catherine T.
MacArthur Foundation, they have spent $50,000 since the beginning of
the year on orbital images depicting secret sites in China, South Africa,
Pakistan, India, Iraq, the United States and North Korea.
"Each image was a revelation," Pike said.
What Pike and his colleagues could see from orbit--for as little as $500
an image--sometimes confirmed, sometimes confounded the official
pronouncements about international military threats and potential arms
control violations.
While many experts disagreed on what the facilities in the pictures
mean, anyone in the world now can look at them via the Internet at
http://www.fas.org/ and join the argument.
"It makes all the debates on these issues two-sided," said USC
international law expert Edwin M. Smith, who until recently was a
consultant to the U.S. undersecretary for arms control and
international security affairs.
Interpreting the Photos Takes Some Expertise
The governments whose secrets Pike has put on public display by and
large have kept their own counsel. But some arms control analysts
dismiss his efforts as the work of an ill-informed amateur who does not
know enough to properly interpret what the satellite is showing him.
(MORE) 07:30 EDT June 13, 2000
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BC-OH--Red Light Crashers, Ohio Bjt,0417 Red
light crashers next cause for safety advocates
DAYTON, Ohio (AP) _ Traffic safety advocates, whose previous
campaigns have helped reduce drunken driving and increase seat-belt
use, are now targeting red light crashers.
Signal violations have declined nationally since 1996, but not enough
to make up for the sharp rise from 1992 to 1996, when crashes rose by
15 percent and fatalities by 19 percent, the Dayton Daily News
reported Tuesday.
``So many of us trust the red light or the stop sign and just go
through the intersection,'' said Linda Kelley of Butler Township, whose
daughter, Jessica, died as a result of a signal violation in January.
``They teach us in driver's ed that we should always look both ways
before entering an intersection, but we don't.''
Concern about signal crashers has led to prolonged police surveillance
of marked intersections, as the Ohio Highway Patrol is doing, and
increased use of cameras at intersections in other states.
In a program called Targeting Dangerous Intersections, the Ohio
Highway Patrol has begun assigning troopers for several hours at a
time to crossroads with high crash volumes, said Sgt. Gary Lewis.
Dr. Douglas Paul, who directs the trauma program at Good Samaritan
Hospital in Dayton, favors the use of automatic cameras at
intersections to catch violators, but the practice is illegal in Ohio and
unacceptable to many who consider it a government intrusion.
``Some way, somehow, we have to make people accountable for their
behavior even when the police aren't sitting at the corner,'' Paul said.
``If this can reduce people becoming seriously injured and dying, then
I'm all for it. They're not going to have surveillance cameras
watching you 24 hours a day like Big Brother in George Orwell.''
The cameras are activated by the red-light cycle and, in the
application Paul recommends, only capture images of cars that enter
an intersection after the red light goes on.
Some states photograph only license plates, others permit pictures of
the drivers. The camera setups, costing at least $70,000, can be
moved to different intersections.
``These injuries not only cause a lot of deaths, they also cause
injuries that take people away from being productive citizens,'' Paul
said. ``They cost us all a lot of money and a lot of heartaches.''
AP-NY-06-13-00 0139EDT
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BC-Columbine-Surveillance Tapes,
Columbine surveillance tapes give glimpse of tragedy
LITTLETON, Colo. (AP) _ Videotapes from surveillance cameras show
students huddling under tables in the Columbine High School cafeteria
and then two gunmen casually walking through the room after nearly
everyone had fled.
The tapes give some glimpses of the chaos that erupted when
students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold began an assault April 20, 1999,
that left 12 students and a teacher dead. The pair then killed
themselves.
The Jefferson County sheriff's office made the tapes public last week
after a judge ruled in favor of victims' families who sought them under
the state open-records law. The two tapes are from four surveillance
cameras in the cafeteria, which is downstairs from the main killing
field in the library.
The sheriff's report, released in May, said Klebold and Harris began
shooting at 11:19 a.m. Students eating lunch in the cafeteria dropped
to the floor and crawled under tables about three minutes later,
according to the digital imprint of the time across the bottom of the
video.
Three adult males, two in T-shirts and jeans and the other in a
checked shirt, ran throughout the cafeteria. There is no sound, but it
appears the men warned students and kept watch while checking on
what was happening.
School maintenance workers were credited with alerting students in
the cafeteria and guiding them to safety.
Harris was at the edge of the frame at 11:44. He crouched down on
the stairs and rested the barrel of a rifle or shotgun on the rail,
pointing it into the cafeteria.
A few seconds later, Klebold, carrying a gun, walked down the stairs.
He strolled around the tables and overturned chairs.
He threw something, which exploded and started a fire at 11:46. The
two students under the table and the one by the pillar scrambled from
their hiding places and ran out a side door.
Investigators said Harris and Klebold carried bombs into the school in
duffel bags and backpacks the morning of the attack. Most of the
bombs didn't explode.
The sheriff's office was also ordered to release recordings of radio
transmissions. Officials have said technicians must transfer the
transmissions to compact disc.
Families of 10 people killed or wounded at Columbine have filed lawsuits
in state and federal courts alleging sheriff's deputies failed to act fast
enough to rescue the students and a wounded teacher and failed to
properly train deputies, dispatchers and 911 operators.
Sheriff's officials have defended the department's actions.
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Intevac, Inc. Announces U.S. Army Contract to
Develop an Integrated Camera
For Surveillance and Targeting
SANTA CLARA, Calif., June 12 /PRNewswire/ -- The Photonics
Technology Division of Intevac, Inc. (Nasdaq: IVAC) today announced
the award of a contract from the U.S. Army
Communications-Electronics Command (CECOM) for the development
and demonstration of a low light level surveillance and targeting
camera system optimized for range gated, active systems which uses
a pulsed laser operating at 1.5 microns as the illumination source.
This award was made under the Dual Use Science and Technology
(DUST) Program where the government partners with industry to jointly
fund the development of technologies needed to maintain U.S.
technological superiority on the battlefield and for industry to remain
competitive in the marketplace. The project is expected to cost
$10,892,044. Funding will be shared by CECOM and Intevac. The
project is jointly funded by the Army and Air Force as the camera
system has broad cross service applications. Funding will be released in
increments over two years.
Two separate research projects will be conducted under the contract.
The first project includes the development of an integrated camera
for surveillance and targeting. This camera will be developed in
collaboration with CECOM utilizing a commercial/military Electron
Bombarded Active Pixel Sensor (EBAPS) technology being separately
developed under a NIST contract. Three major, parallel, technology
development efforts will be conducted and coordinated under this
CECOM project including Transferred Electron EBAPS (TE-EBAPS)
camera development, the CMOS APS chip development to support the
camera, and thermal hardening of the TE photocathode to enable
military and industrial storage temperature requirements to be met. The
second project includes a manufacturing technology effort for reducing
the fabrication cost of the transferred electron photocathode tube,
the primary component of the camera. Investigation into
manufacturing processes aimed at increasing the yield of component
parts, particularly the finished photocathodes; improving the
component assembly process; and increasing component fabrication
and assembly throughput will be conducted. The lower cost sensors
will allow broader use by military and non-military users in general
targeting and surveillance applications.
Intevac's Photonics Technology Division General Manager, Mr. Verle
Aebi, said, "This program is an important step on our road map to
complete development of products for military and civilian applications
of our Laser Illuminated Viewing and Ranging (LIVAR(TM)) technology.
We are delighted that this technology development has continued
strong support by the Army and Air Force. Intevac's LIVAR(TM)
technology allows positive identification of objects at several kilometer
and greater ranges. This program will advance our progress in
improving performance and reducing cost to enable our LIVAR(TM)
products to be utilized for long-range target identification. Applications
include the Army's Cost Effective Targeting System (CETS) for the
Future Combat System (FCS), manportable systems for both military
and civilian surveillance, and air to ground non-cooperative target
identification systems for the Air Force with possible application on
future platforms including the Joint Strike Fighter. Civilian applications
include further cost effective products utilizing the LIVAR(TM)
technology in our line of EBAPS cameras."
Intevac's Photonics business develops electro-optical devices that
permit highly sensitive detection of photons in the visible and short
wave infrared portions of the spectrum. This technology, when
combined with advanced silicon integrated circuits, makes it possible to
produce highly sensitive video cameras. This development work is
creating new products for both military and industrial applications.
Products include Intensified Digital Video Sensors, cameras
incorporating those sensors and Laser Illuminated Viewing and Ranging
("LIVAR") systems for positive target identification.
CONTACT: For more information on Intevac visit the Company's
website @www.intevac.com or contact Charles Eddy, Chief Financial
Officer, Intevac, Inc., 3560 Bassett Street, Santa Clara, CA 95054,
408-496-2259, or ceddy@intevac.com.
SOURCE Intevac
-0- 06/12/2000 /CONTACT: Charles Eddy, Chief Financial Officer of
Intevac, Inc., 408-496-2259, or ceddy@intevac.com/
/Company News On-Call:
http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/109692.html or fax, 800-758-5804,
ext. 109692/
/Web site: http://www.intevac.com/
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Tech 2010: #14 Feel Secure:
The Surveillance Camera That Picks Out the Bad Guys
The New York Times via Dow Jones
Publication Date: Sunday June 11, 2000
Magazine Desk; Section 6; Page 71, Column 3
c. 2000 New York Times Company
By Rob Turner
When a thief cases a house, even the craftiest old pro gives himself
away. It could be a movement as subtle as as change in gait. A cop
might pick that up, if there was one around to see it. So might a
camera, says Joseph J. Atick, president of Visionics, a Jersey
City-based software maker.
Visionics has developed a surveillance device that works with built-in
processors to monitor human behavior. The camera can be
programmed, for example, to notice someone lingering in one spot for
too long, or it can recognize (and recall) a face that reappears at
different intervals. It can even analyze a person's body language and
sound an alarm if it picks up a suspicious pattern.
''It follows the classic saying that people have a hard time chewing
gum and walking at the same time,'' explains Atick. ''If they're doing
something, looking at a building with an intention to analyze something,
the body inclination changes, the way the muscles are carried. Motor
control starts taking a different pattern.''
Atick's camera can be programmed for more mundane tasks too, such
as recognizing members of a family and unlocking the front door for
them. In the works are more advanced programs that gauge the
emotion of a person by detecting a smile or a furrowed brow.
The technology to do much of this exists now, but it's expensive. And
not everybody is eager to embrace machines that are programmed to
differentiate human behavior. Experts like George Kelling, a criminologist
and co-author of the acclaimed book ''Fixing Broken Windows,'' are a
bit leery of the idea. ''What bothers me about a lot of the technological
solutions,'' Kelling says, ''is that they are basically antisocial.'' Kelling's
prescription for a more effective, ''pro-social'' crime-fighting tool: front
porches.
06:15 EDT June 11, 2000 Copyright (c) 2000 The New York Times Co.
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Big Brother, Summertime, and the livin' is vicarious with 'Big Brother'
By LYNN ELBER AP Television Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) _ On the CBS Studio Center lot, tucked into a
corner usually given over to parking spots, is the house that voyeurism built.
Dutch, Spanish and German viewers have gone wild over a television
show that joins 10 strangers in a spartan home for three months under
unblinking cameras and the audience's judgmental eye.
In July, America will get its own version of the peep show with ``Big
Brother,'' and CBS is gambling that the titillation quotient and ratings
will be as impressive on this side of the Atlantic.
The upside for players: a $500,000 prize for the one who avoids being
expelled by fellow housemates and the TV audience. The downside:
cameras everywhere. (Yes, everywhere. Even in the bathroom.)
And then there's the tacit ``No Exit'' sign. ``They can leave if they
want. The door's open ... but it's a one-way door,'' said Paul Romer,
the Dutch TV executive who helped create ``Big Brother'' and is
producing the U.S. version.
CBS is the same network that's airing ``Survivor,'' based on a Swedish
show, in which 16 people compete on a desert island for a $1 million
prize. Both followed the success of ABC's ``Who Wants to be a
Millionaire,'' patterned after a British game show.
And audiences have responded. ``Survivor'' managed to hold its own in
its debut against ``Millionaire'' and scored impressively among coveted
younger viewers.
``People want something different. There's more of a voyeuristic
nature to our watching habits,'' contends Leslie Moonves, president of
CBS Television, which paid a reported $20 million to Dutch producer
Endemol Entertainment for rights to ``Big Brother,'' to run July 6-Sept.
30.
``People are intrigued by seeing someone who could be their next-door
neighbor or their Uncle John in a situation like this,'' Moonves said.
Robert Thompson, director of the Center for the Study of Popular
Television at Syracuse University, agrees.
``Voyeurism and television were destined to embrace, and the miracle,
I think, isn't so much that they've finally done so. The miracle is
they've taken so long,'' Thompson said _ especially given the
successful tenure of MTV's ``Real World.''
The mild-mannered Romer makes ``Big Brother's'' concept seem benign,
despite its chilling Orwellian title (drawn from the novel ``1984,'' about
a totalitarian society devoid of privacy).
``It's just a television show. It's fun,'' he said. ``Humans are curious
beings. We like to know how other people live. We like to know what
other people do.''
The audience will see ``normal Americans, living their lives more or less
normally in this house ... It's fun to get to know them during those
three months, and it's kind of a reflection of society.''
Kind of. First, the 10 participants will surrender virtually all contact
with the outside world along with their privacy.
The 1,800-foot home, with adjoining vegetable garden and exercise
area, is screened to prevent the CBS studio crew _ which represents
the outside world, kind of _ from contaminating ``Big Brother's''
hermetic environment.
The house is stocked with staples, including beans, rice, potatoes and
frozen meat. Participants have to tend the vegetable crop and the
chicken coop.
There's no television, no radio, no newspapers, although each person
can bring a small suitcase with a few distractions such as books or
games. What's in plentiful supply are cameras (28) and microphones
(60).
Tracks running behind one-way mirrors allow the cameras to sneak
along in pursuit of the players. Other remote-control cameras are
fixed throughout the house, including a small ``lipstick'' version in the
shower.
``The bathroom camera is never shown on television,'' said series
co-executive producer Douglas Ross. ``It's there for the participants'
safety. We also want them to not have any private places, so they
can't go into the bathroom and have a conversation which we're not
privy to.''
Condensed versions of each day's footage will be shown in half-hour
episodes Monday, Tuesday and Friday, with a one-hour recap
Saturday. On Thursday, ``Big Brother'' raises the ante with a full hour
of live TV.
Internet users can conduct round-the-clock surveillance. Every two
weeks, the housemates will nominate two colleagues for expulsion, with
TV viewers then voting out one of them by telephone. At the end, the
audience will choose the winner from the three remaining players.
The German version of ``Big Brother'' used careful editing to juice up
the action, according to one magazine article. Romer, who contends
that's ``not entirely accurate,'' said no liberties will be taken here.
``We're on the Internet 24 hours a day, real time, so if we try to
manipulate events we would have a lot of reaction from the Internet
community,'' he said.
``Big Brother'' will, however, toy with its guests. The group will face
regular challenges, such as agreeing on who gets dibs on rare phone
privileges.
More than 1,000 people submitted videotaped applications to become
players. Next week, 64 finalists will arrive in Los Angeles to undergo
further scrutiny, including psychological testing and what CBS vows will
be comprehensive background checks.
Because of revelations that emerged about instant couple Rick
Rockwell and Darva Conger after Fox aired ``Who Wants to Marry a
Multimillionaire?'', Ross said, ``we wanted to make sure we were doubly
careful.''
Their overseas popularity aside, CBS' summer series arrived with
baggage. A losing contestant from the Swedish version of ``Survivor''
committed suicide in 1997, although the network denied responsibility.
And ``Big Brother'' was harshly criticized before it aired in Holland and
Germany, with The Netherlands Institute of Psychologists calling the
show ``irresponsible and unethical.''
Romer notes that ``Big Brother'' has generated little controversy so far
here, despite heavy advertising and publicity.
Which is not to say it's avoided scrutiny altogether. Dorothy Swanson,
founder of the grassroots Viewers for Quality Television, dismissed
``Big Brother'' as ``lazy programming.''
In search of escapist summer fare, however, Swanson admitted she'll
likely tune in. So will Syracuse's Thompson.
As a professor, ``I'm disgusted at the way the greatest
communications medium in planetary history is going,'' he said.
``The other side of me, however, the person alone in a room with a
television and no accountability, can't wait for the next 'Survivor,''
can't wait until July to see 'Big Brother.'''
On the Net: http://www.cbs.com/network/tvshows/mini/bigbrother/
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A Call for Safety / Rudy asks cops to find solution to subway shoves.
Sidebar: WHEN PUSH COMES TO SHOVE (SEE END OF TEXT)
Newsday, 06/07/00
Mayor Rudolph Giuliani says it's probably every New Yorker's deepest
fear: a shove or fall onto subway tracks.
So in the wake of nine subway-platform attacks this year, equal to the
total for all of last year, police say, Giuliani is asking the Police
Department to explore ways to reduce those occurrences, he
announced yesterday.
The mayor already has some fixes to suggest, such as moving the
yellow line a few feet in from the platform's edge, and having police
issue warnings or summonses to those who step over it. Some stations
also might be able to accommodate railings as well as surveillance
cameras and additional police, he added.
"We should do more to try to figure out-including the situations where
people accidentally fall on the subway tracks-if there is a better way
to handle the crowds and to handle the people that are waiting for
subway trains," Giuliani said.
But it's the Metropolitan Transportation Authority that operates the
468-station system and would have to approve any recommendations
by the Giuliani administration. Giuliani said he had not yet discussed his
ideas with the MTA.
MTA spokesman Al O'Leary said his agency is all ears.
But, he added, "I also have to say that this is not the first time this
problem has been studied. There are no simple solutions, that's for
sure."
The mayor's proposal comes at a time when subway ridership is surging
and, according to transit advocates, there has been an apparent drop
in the number of officers seen patrolling the system.
At Giuliani's urging, the Police Department took over the transit police
force in April, 1995, leading many critics to predict that there would be
fewer officers on the subway. Newsday reported in 1997 that internal
police records showed the number of officers assigned to transit
districts to patrol the subway dropped by 13 percent within the first 17
months of the takeover.
More recent data was not available, but Gene Russianoff, senior
attorney for the Straphangers Campaign, said it appears that fewer
police are visible.
"I do believe that the actual presence of uniformed officers in the
subway is less than it used to be," he said. "A police presence is a
deterrent."
Giuliani said there were enough police. "The answer is not always more
police officers, because police officers can't be everywhere and
anywhere," he said.
The Giuliani administration study will include a review of how other big
cities have sought to protect their subway riders from pushes and
accidents.
Deputy Mayor Rudy Washington, who sits on the MTA board, will be
involved. A private consultant may also be hired, a city official said.
The Police Department said that of nine incidents this year, four people
ended up on the tracks, seriously injured but not killed. The remaining
five were unsuccessful attempts at pushing riders over the edge.
During 1999, there were nine actual or attempted shoves, police said.
The idea for a police review was first broached during the mayor's 8
a.m. cabinet meeting and wasprompted by two widely reported cases,
according to a city official.
The mayor announced the study to reporters a few hours later.
In one of the recent incidents of note, Julio DeJesus was arrested for
allegedly trying to push a woman into the tracks June 4 on the C line
at 110th Street and Central Park West.
In the other case, Paul O'Dwyer allegedly tried to push two women
onto the D line tracks at the Broadway-Lafayette and West Fourth
Street stations. He has been apprehended.
In April, 1999, City Council Speaker Peter Vallone wrote a letter to
Transit Authority president Lawrence Reuter, stating, "We are way
past the time for something to be done."
That letter was prompted by the case of Kendra Webdale, pushed to
her death by a mentally disturbed man who had been in and out of
institutions.
In testimony before the council's transportation committee that June,
Reuter said that the installation of railings "will cause more problems on
the system than they will solve" since subway cars and stations are
not uniform and platforms are relatively narrow- something the mayor
conceded yesterday. The cities that have railings, such as Hong Kong,
have newer transit systems that were designed with such precautions
in mind, Reuter testified.
Still, Reuter said the city's subway system had made strides toward
heightening riders' awareness of risky behavior, such as standing too
close to the platform edge.
Michael Doyle, associate director of the New York City Transit Riders
Council, an advocacy organization, doubts that much more can be
done to improve safety, except perhaps adding closed-circuit TVs and
increasing the presence of police on cars and platforms.
"The subway is really a very safe place, overall," Doyle said. "If you
want to improve safety further, you should add subway service- and
you'll need to increase the funding for the care of people with serious
mental illness in New York State."
Giuliani, speaking to reporters in midtown Manhattan, said probably
every New Yorker has a memory of a high-profile subway incident. In
decades past, these incidents have defined the city's unpredictability
and its perils.
He said he'd like the Legislature to make it possible for judges to treat
repeat misdemeanor offenders like DeJesus, who had several
fare-beating arrests, as if they had committed a felony.
"You have to work on changing human behavior," Giuliani said.
WHEN PUSH COMES TO SHOVE
Straphangers have been shoved onto the tracks or toward the tracks
nine times this year already, police officials said yesterday. That figure,
through the first five months of the year, equals the total for 1999.
Five of the incidents were described as attempts and four as incidents
where the victims were actually shoved to the trackbed. None of this
year's incidents resulted in death.
On Feb. 5, at the Nostrand Avenue stop on the 3 line, a hooded man
walked up to a 68-year-old man and said "How you been?" The hooded
man walked away and then suddenly appeared behind the older man
and shoved him to the trackbed, causing head and back injuries.
On Feb. 6, at the 88th Street stop on the A line, a 77-year-old man
was accosted by three younger men. They took his money, hit him
with a glass bottle and threw him to the ground.
On March 1, at the 111th Street stop on the 3 line, a 16-year-old
youth was shoved by two other teens toward the tracks after they
ripped off his watch.
On March 27, at the Seaside Avenue station on the A line, a 13-
year-old boy was shoved onto the tracks by an unknown assailant.
Another 13-year-old was arrested in the incident.
On April 6, at the Main Street station of the 7 line in Flushing another
teen was accosted. He was pushed to the tracks, but not injured.
On May 19, at 71st Street and Continental Avenue on the G line, a
16-year-old was approached by a man who tried to push him to the
trackbed. The victim grabbed a pole and held on.
On May 22, at the Broadway and Lafayette station on the D line, a
44-year-old man was shoved toward the tracks, but he held on and
fought off his attacker. A homeless man named Paul O'Dwyer was
arrested, but only after he allegedly accosted a woman at the West
Fourth Street station on the D line. He grabbed her by the hair and
tried to drag her to the end of the platform, police said.
On June 4, at 110th Street and Central Park West, a woman, 24, was
shoved twice toward the track by Julio DeJesus, a 36 year-old
homeless man with a record of 38 convictions over the past 10 years,
police said. DeJesus was arrested.
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BC-MN--UM-Alcohol Arrests, Alcohol
arrests still high at University of Minnesota
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) _ Only the University of Wisconsin-Madison and
Michigan State University had more alcohol-related arrests in 1998
than the University of Minnesota's Twin Cities campus, according to a
survey on campus crime.
The annual survey by The Chronicle of Higher Education, released
Sunday, showed 606 liquor law violations at the Minnesota university,
behind the University of Wisconsin-Madison, with 792 arrests, and
Michigan State University, with 655.
In 1997, the Twin Cities campus had 555 alcohol-related arrests,
second to Michigan State's 854 in the survey of 481 four-year colleges
and universities with at least 5,000 students. Madison had only 342
alcohol arrests in 1997.
One of the reasons the university's Twin Cities campus is generally
near the top in alcohol-related arrests is size _ the school is the
largest listed in the top five. University police also say that, in recent
years, increased vigilance about drinking and drunkenness on campus
has bumped up arrest totals.
University Police Chief George Aylward said most of those arrested are
not university students. They include people driving through campus
and people leaving bars and parties in surrounding neighborhoods.
``Two-thirds of our arrests for alcohol are nonstudents, people who
are on our streets and campus but are passing through,'' Aylward said.
Of the 606 alcohol-related arrests in 1998, 404 were nonstudents.
Nationwide, The Chronicle reported that alcohol arrests on college
campuses increased more than 24 percent in 1998, and arrests for
drug law violations jumped 11 percent. At the university's Twin Cities
campus, drug arrests increased 46 percent, from 72 to 105. Only 17 of
those arrests, which overwhelmingly involved marijuana violations,
were of university students.
As a group, the Minnesota colleges and universities surveyed had low
violent-crime rates, though arrests for alcohol violations increased at
all seven state institutions that reported crime statistics.
The biggest percentage increase was at Minnesota State University,
Mankato, where alcohol-related arrests increased 106 percent to 231
in 1998, from 112 in 1997.
Malcolm O'Sullivan, assistant vice president for student affairs, said the
increase probably reflects increased campus security and additional
camera surveillance of campus parking lots.
Minnesota State's policies on alcohol violations also are stricter than
those at some other schools, O'Sullivan said. Some institutions use
student discipline codes to handle alcohol violations, while Mankato
city police always are called if underage students appear intoxicated or
are seen with liquor on at Minnesota State, O'Sullivan said.
At the University of Minnesota-Duluth, liquor-law violations rose to 107
in 1998, from 82 the previous year; at Moorhead State, the liquor
arrests rose to 79, from 27. At St. Cloud State, the arrests rose to 16,
from 7; at the University of St. Thomas arrests rose to 9, from 3, and
at Winona State, arrests inched to 5, from 4.
On the Net: The Chronicle of Higher Education:
http://chronicle.com/stats/crime
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