State of Surveillance- Final

 

OFFICER ROB HALVERSON OF THE CHULA VISTA POLICE DEPARTMENT IS TESTING A TECHNOLOGY THAT COULD CHANGE HOW POLICE FIGHT CRIME. 

 

(sound up of police radio in car)

 

HE’S ON A CALL TO VERIFY THE IDENTITY OF A WOMAN JUST ARRESTED FOR POSSESSION OF NARCOTICS. HE DOESN’T NEED TO ASK HER NAME OR CHECK HER I.D. HE JUST TAKES HER PICTURE.

 

HIS TABLET USES FACIAL RECOGNITION SOFTWARE TO FIND THE SUSPECT’S MUG SHOT AND CRIMINAL HISTORY.

 

Rob Halverson: You can lie about your name, you can lie about your date of birth, you can lie about your address.  But tattoos, birthmarks, scars don’t lie.

 

Lower Third:

Officer Rob Halverson

Chula Vista Police Dept

 

POLICE HAVE ACCESS TO MORE DATA THAN EVER BEFORE, RAISING QUESTIONS ABOUT HOW THAT INFORMATION IS USED AND STORED.

 

THE TABLET IS PART OF A PILOT PROGRAM IN SAN DIEGO COUNTY.

 

Rob Halverson: It’s been very helpful//  some people just have to have the threat of “ok, you don’t want to tell us who you are, we’re just going to take a photo of you and we’re going to be able to compare.”  And then when people realize the technology we now have, they are more likely to tell us their real name and that.

 

MORE AND MORE, POLICE ARE USING BIOMETRICS- BIOLOGICAL MARKERS FROM FACE SCANS AND PALM PRINTS -- IN ADDITION TO FINGERPRINTS TO IDENTIFY SUSPECTS.

 

FINGERPRINTS THEMSELVES HAVE BEEN REVOLUTIONIZED. NOW THEY’RE TAKEN ON A MOBILE SCANNER. THEY’RE SENT THOUSANDS OF MILES AWAY TO THIS HIGHLY SECURE FBI COMPLEX IN WEST VIRGINIA.

 

William McKinsey:  This is next generation identification.

Lower Third:

William McKinsey

FBI

 

THESE SERVERS ARE THE HEART OF THE FBI’S NEXT GENERATION IDENTIFICATION PROGRAM-- OR NGI. OFFICIALLY LAUNCHING THIS SUMMER, THE BILLION-DOLLAR PROGRAM WILL ADD FACIAL SCANS AND OTHER BIOMETRICS TO THE EXISTING TROVE OF 137 MILLION FINGERPRINTS.

 

THESE COMPUTERS ANALYZE EACH FINGERPRINT AND PHOTO THAT OFFICERS SEND.

 

William McKinsey: It comes to these servers and these servers actually do the searches - all 137 million of them - and then if they get a hit, they go down to pick some information out of the storage to send criminal history back to the querying officer.

 

THIS DATA CENTER RUNS UP TO 160,000 SEARCHES A DAY.[1]

 

William McKinsey:  Its a big one.  You can picture it as being a football field on top of another football field.

 

THE FBI HAS BEEN COLLECTING FINGERPRINTS SINCE THE EARLY NINETEEN HUNDREDS. PRINTS WERE ORIGINALLY CHECKED BY HAND, AND IT COULD TAKE MONTHS TO FIND A MATCH.

 

NOW COMPUTERS DO THE SAME WORK IN MINUTES.

 

BUT UNTIL RECENTLY, THE FBI HAD NO EASY WAY TO SEARCH PALM PRINTS AND  MUGSHOTS TAKEN AT THE TIME OF ARREST.

 

THAT FRUSTRATED AGENTS LIKE JEREMY WILTZ, THE ACTING ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE INFORMATION SERVICES.

 

Wiltz: We could do very little with the mugshots that we had. If we were collecting palm prints, we could do very little with those; we had nothing that really searched those. So from a latent perspective and unsolved crimes, you would struggle to be able to search that - so insert NGI.

Lower Third:

Jeremy Wiltz

FBI

 

ANY LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER CONNECTED TO NGI CAN SUBMIT AN IMAGE AND GET A LIST OF FACES WITH MATCHING FEATURES.

 

Sound up:  So these would be the candidates that come back.

 

THE FBI IS ALSO ADDING IRIS SCANS TO THE DATABASE -- BECAUSE EACH PERSON’S EYE CONTAINS A UNIQUE PATTERN THAT’S EASY TO CAPTURE.

 

FOR WILTZ, THE REAL VALUE OF NGI IS SOLVING COLD CASES.

Wiltz:  Think about how powerful that is //  I can't wait until those success stories come out. It's going to be worth its weight in gold of why we developed NGI.

 

Jennifer Lynch: The biggest concern and what people need to know about Next Generation identification is that anybody could end up being in that database.

 

Lower Third:

Jennifer Lynch

Electronic Frontier Foundation

 

JENNIFER LYNCH IS A LAWYER WITH THE ELECTRONIC FRONTIER FOUNDATION, WHICH IS SUING THE FBI TO FIND OUT EXACTLY WHAT DATA THE AGENCY IS COLLECTING.

 

Jennifer Lynch: The way that NGI is set up// the FBI has said, is that they're just including mugshots, but that is really just a policy that the FBI has taken. There's no law that says they have to limit the inclusion of images to mugshots.

 

THE FBI ACKNOWLEDGES THAT ITS FACIAL RECOGNITION SYSTEM SOMETIMES FLAGS THE WRONG PEOPLE- 15 PERCENT OF THE TIME THE SUSPECT WON’T BE AMONG THE TOP 50 HITS.[2]

 

Jennifer Lynch: Those people whose face images come up suddenly have to prove their innocence rather than the government having to prove their guilt, and that's completely different again from how our democracy has been set up.

 

(sound up- city streets, cameras)

PRIVACY ADVOCATES WORRY THAT A GROWING WEB OF TRAFFIC MONITORS, LICENSE PLATE READERS AND NETWORKED SECURITY CAMERAS WILL SOON ALLOW POLICE TRACK OUR EVERY MOVE-- ALL WITHOUT A WARRANT.

 

(quick sound up)

 

THE LEGAL ISSUES OVER HOW THESE NEW TECHNOLOGIES ARE USED AND WHO HAS ACCESS TO ALL OF THIS INFORMATION ARE FAR FROM SETTLED.

 

IN CALIFORNIA-- ONE OF 10 STATES THAT GUARANTEES A RIGHT TO PRIVACY-- THE NEW TOOLS POSE A CHALLENGE:

 

WHERE TO DRAW THE LINE BETWEEN SAFER STREETS AND SPYING?

 

(sound up inside RACR)

 

AT A HIGH-TECH NERVE CENTER IN LOS ANGELES, POLICE GRAPPLE WITH THIS QUESTION EVERY DAY.

 

Capt John Romero About 1,000 cameras in the city are fed and monitored here, mostly for investigative purposes…

Lower Third:

Capt John Romero

Los Angeles Police Dept

 

CAPTAIN JOHN ROMERO COMMANDS THE REAL-TIME ANALYSIS AND CRITICAL RESPONSE DIVISION, WHICH TRACKS CRIMES ACROSS THE CITY, WITH AN UP-TO-THE MINUTE MAP OF EVERY INCIDENT THAT’S REPORTED.

 

Capt John Romero:  A small picture of a bomb would be a bomb call. Masks would be robbery calls. The fists are assault crimes.

 

ROMERO SAYS NEW TECHNOLOGIES ALLOW THE DEPARTMENT TO DO PREDICTIVE POLICING- DETERMINING WHEN AND WHERE CRIMES ARE MORE LIKELY TO OCCUR.

 

AS PART OF A NEW INITIATIVE, POLICE ALSO MONITOR PRIVATE CAMERAS NEAR THE HOLLYWOOD SIGN AND WARN OFF INTERLOPERS THROUGH A SPEAKER.

 

Romero (off camera): They are trespassers at this point.

 

ROMERO BELIEVES THAT WHILE THE PUBLIC MAY BE UNEASY ABOUT BEING WATCHED, THEY’LL SOON SEE THE BENEFITS.

 

Capt John Romero:  In early America when we started putting up street lights, people thought that this is the government trying to see what we’re doing at night to spy on us. Over time things shifted and now if you try to take down street lights in Los Angeles or Boston or anywhere else people will say, “No, it’s a public safety. You’re hurting our public safety just so you can save money on lighting.”// I think the cameras will eventually get there where// cameras will not be a problem in the future.

 

(Iketani monitoring Compton station cameras)

 

ACROSS TOWN, SERGEANT DOUG IKETANI OF THE LA COUNTY SHERIFF’S DEPARTMENT RECENTLY SUPERVISED AN EXPERIMENT INVOLVING CAMERAS ON A WHOLE NEW LEVEL. HE GAVE THE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING AN EXCLUSIVE ACCOUNT OF THE TEST.

 

(sound up of hangar doors opening to reveal plane)

 

Sgt Iketani: The system was kept confidential from everybody in the public. A lot of people do have a problem with the eye in the sky, the Big Brother, so in order to mitigate any of those kinds of complaints// We, basically, kept it pretty "hush, hush."

 

THE ARRAY OF CAMERAS ON THIS AIRCRAFT RECORDS HIGH RESOLUTION IMAGES OF A 25 SQUARE MILE AREA FOR UP TO 6 HOURS. IT CAN TRACK EVERY PERSON AND VEHICLE ON THE GROUND, BEAMING BACK THE PICTURES IN REAL TIME. IT’S CITY-WIDE SURVEILLANCE ON AN UNPRECEDENTED SCALE .

 

[Animation]

 

Ross McNutt:  What we essentially do is a live version of Google Earth only with a full TIVO capability, it allows us to rewind time and go back and see events that we didn’t know occurred at the time they occurred.

 

Lower Third:

Ross McNutt

Persistent Surveillance Systems

 

ROSS MCNUTT IS THE PRESIDENT OF PERSISTENT SURVEILLANCE SYSTEMS IN DAYTON, OHIO-- ONE OF THE FEW COMPANIES IN THE U.S. THAT DOES WIDE AREA SURVEILLANCE.

 

(sound up in PSS war room)

 

MCNUTT DEVELOPED A SIMILAR SYSTEM IN THE AIR FORCE THAT WAS USED IN IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN.

 

Ross McNutt: Originally, when we first built the other system it was at the height of the IED problem. And our objective was to be able to follow the bombers from where the bomb went off back to the house where they were building the bombs and be able to use that. Towards the end of the time when the system was deployed we looked at it and said, Hey, there’s some real law enforcement applications to this.

MCNUTT HAS TESTED THE TECHNOLOGY IN PHILADELPHIA, BALTIMORE, AND DAYTON, WHERE HE SAYS IT PROVIDED POLICE WITH USEFUL LEADS ON SHOOTINGS, ARMED ROBBERIES, AND NARCOTICS CASES.

 

THE LA COUNTY SHERIFF’S DEPARTMENT TESTED WIDE AREA SURVEILLANCE IN 2012 OVER COMPTON -- A COMPACT CITY WITH A HIGH CRIME RATE.[3]

Ross McNutt: We literally watched all of Compton during the time that we’re flying// Anywhere within that whole area, we can zoom down live or after the fact to resolutions just barely to be able to follow people.

Iketani:  My first initial thought was like “oh, Big Brother - we’re going to have a camera flying over us.” // But // with the wide-area surveillance, you would have the ability to solve a lot of the unsolvable crimes with no witnesses, no videotaped surveillance, no fingerprints.

Lower Third:

Sgt Doug Iketani

LA County Sheriff’s Dept

 

FROM A MOBILE COMMAND CENTER, MCNUTT MONITORED 911 CALLS AND COORDINATED WITH OFFICERS ON THE GROUND.

Ross McNutt:  There had been a rash of crimes in Compton with people getting necklaces snatched.// So the LA Sheriff’s Department asked us to investigate this.

Doug Iketani: Yeah, I remember this call. It was basically our typical middle aged woman walking down the street with a friend of hers having a conversation, a young male approaches her

Doug Iketani (in car): and as he’s just walking down the street she thinks he’s just a regular pedestrian, doesn’t notice anything about him. grabs the necklace off of her neck, runs down the street.

(sound up siren)

Doug Iketani: In traditional policing, unless we have someone driving down the street we won’t be able to solve these types of crimes.// 99 percent of the time we’re not going to find anybody.

Ross McNutt: We went to the address and we watched it// and what we saw was // somebody getting out of a car here.// And then the person walks down the street here, while the car circles around to the other side of the block. And what you have is a person walking down the road there and in just a moment here is where the necklace is stolen. Right there. And then the person is going to run off quickly to get into the car, back into the car that was driven around the block and we can follow that person off.

THE SYSTEM DOESN’T HAVE THE RESOLUTION TO IDENTIFY LICENSE PLATES OR PEOPLE. A PERSON IS JUST A PIXEL.  ANALYSTS TRACK THE CAR AND RELY ON CAMERAS AT TRAFFIC LIGHTS OR GAS STATIONS TO CAPTURE A CLOSE-UP IMAGE.

IN THIS CASE, THE SUSPECTS EVENTUALLY DROVE OUT OF CAMERA RANGE WITHOUT BEING IDENTIFIED. BUT IKETANI SAYS THE EXPERIMENT STILL GAVE POLICE SOME VALUABLE LEADS.

Doug Iketani (in car): Now with the surveillance system, now we know that that car was involved.// so that way our deputies// can start monitoring those streets and maybe they’ll see that car driving by with the two bad guys in there and maybe we can stop them and arrest them.

SO FAR, NO POLICE DEPARTMENT HAS PURCHASED THE SYSTEM. IKETANI SAYS IT CAN’T PROVIDE THE KIND OF DETAILED IMAGES THAT WOULD HOLD UP IN COURT.

Doug Iketani:  It was a great experiment, but in the end, the resolution just wasn’t there for us to use it on a day-to-day basis.

MCNUTT BELIEVES THAT PERSISTENT SURVEILLANCE COULD LEAD TO A LASTING DROP IN CRIME, BUT ACKNOWLEDGES PRIVACY CONCERNS.

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE TECHNOLOGY IMPROVES? IS THE FUTURE A PERMANENT RECORD OF OUR EVERY MOVE?

Ross McNutt: There is a trade off between security and some aspects of privacy.// By the fact that we’re actually able to provide useful information about multiple crimes per mission and contribute to solving everything from murders to- in the case you saw- a necklace snatch, that allows us to provide more security with less loss of privacy than any of the other options that are out there.

FOR NOW, DEPUTIES ARE BACK TO PATROLLING THE STREETS OF COMPTON FROM THE GROUND. BUT THEY SAY THAT IF THE TECHNOLOGY IMPROVES THEY’LL TAKE ANOTHER LOOK AT WIDE AREA SURVEILLANCE.

Doug Iketani: I’m sure that people once they find out that this experiment went on they might be a little upset but knowing that we can’t see into their bedroom windows, we can’t see into their pools, we can’t see into their showers, you know, I’m sure they’ll be OK with it. But the amount of technology out in today’s age, with cameras on ATMs, every 7-11, every supermarket, pretty much every light pole, all the license plate cameras, the red light cameras, people have just gotten used to being watched, for the most part.

(sound up- Oakland city council meeting- NO!)

BUT NOT EVERYONE.

 

THESE PROTESTERS IN OAKLAND FEAR THAT POLICE WILL SOON BE ABLE TO WATCH ANYONE, ANYTIME -- WITH LITTLE OVERSIGHT.

 

FOR MONTHS, THEY FOUGHT A PLAN TO CREATE WHAT THEY CALLED A CITYWIDE SURVEILLANCE SYSTEM, AN EXTENSIVE NETWORK OF LIVE CAMERA AND DATA FEEDS.

 

IN MARCH, THEY CONVINCED THE CITY COUNCIL TO SCALE BACK ITS PLANS -- FOR NOW.

 

(sound up- cheering, Democracy is worth it)

 

BUT AS POLICE EXPERIMENT WITH EVER MORE SOPHISTICATED TECHNOLOGIES, THE DEBATE WILL CONTINUE ON THE BALANCE BETWEEN SECURITY AND PRIVACY… AND WHERE TO DRAW THAT LINE.