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Baltimore City Hall rejects a free law enforcement surveillance plane Login/Join 
wishing we
were congress
posted
https://hotair.com/archives/ja...-city-hall-rejected/

Keep in mind that Baltimore has the highest murder rate of any big city in the country. Few murders are solved, and the thugs terrify the everyday citizens not to testify.

From the link:

Earlier this year we looked at a law enforcement program in Baltimore that put a plane up above the city almost around the clock. It was equipped with a high definition video camera and was able to monitor crime scenes and track criminals back to where they came from and/or to their destinations after the crime. And the best part of it was that it was absolutely free to the taxpayers, being funded by a private grant.

But some Democrats objected to having an “eye in the sky” and it was abandoned. When the offer was renewed for the same free program again this summer, the new Police Commissioner dismissed it out of hand.

One local pastor disagreed with the decision, saying that he had heard from plenty of people saying they thought it was a great idea. But rather than relying on anecdotal evidence, he obtained a grant to pay for a professional survey to be done

Of 500 residents polled, 74% said they would generally support “a program to conduct aerial surveillance over the city of Baltimore to reduce serious crimes like murder.” Twenty percent said they would oppose such a program, with 6% unsure.

“A small aircraft flies over the city and provides images that track vehicles and people to and from reported crime scenes. The information is then provided to the Baltimore Police Department to help them solve crimes. An outside independent oversight group would ensure that the system is not being abused, and the program would be entirely paid for by a private donor.”

The same Texas husband and wife philanthropist team, John and Laura Arnold, are offering to pay for three planes providing round the clock coverage. They’re also offering to cover the costs of any overtime or extra personnel required to process and analyze the video data. And if anyone has any concerns over how the video is being used, they even volunteered to fund a public committee to provide oversight.

Despite all that, the Chief of Police and members of the City Council are rejecting the plan

Gun crimes are precisely the sort of thing this surveillance system was built for. Once a shooting is identified and police know the time and location, the video footage can trace all the cars and pedestrian traffic at the crime scene. People can be traced back to where they came from originally as well as revealing where they headed after it all went down.

If the cops like it (they did) and it’s effective in solving crimes, and if the public supports it, why is the city leadership still turning their nose up?
 
Posts: 19505 | Registered: July 21, 2002Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Savor the limelight
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quote:
and it’s effective in solving crimes,


Was it effective? I see nothing in the article that supports this premise. They had it for a year, so how many crimes did it solve?
 
Posts: 10823 | Location: SWFL | Registered: October 10, 2007Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Never miss an opportunity
to be Batman!
Picture of jsbcody
posted Hide Post
quote:
If the cops like it (they did) and it’s effective in solving crimes, and if the public supports it, why is the city leadership still turning their nose up?


Simple answer: Corruption. Quite a few "alderman" in every major city have ties to drug dealing gangs in their district disguised as "political contributions". The other alderman are only interested in programs that either pay them (or their bag man, for example Hunter Biden is the bag man for the Biden family) or programs and grants that they can outright loot by misappropriating funds. Follow the money. Crime is good for their bottom line one way or another.
 
Posts: 3909 | Location: St.Louis County MO | Registered: October 13, 2006Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Go ahead punk, make my day
posted Hide Post
quote:
absolutely free

quote:
An outside independent oversight group would ensure that the system is not being abused

"Right.......



2 words - FUCK THAT.
 
Posts: 45798 | Registered: July 12, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
wishing we
were congress
posted Hide Post
The Baltimore police used the spy plane in 2016 w/o telling the mayor. So there was a big stink.

Former Baltimore mayor Pugh said she would support the plane if the community wanted it and the police wanted it.

Why question that it is "free" ?

https://www.baltimoresun.com/m...-20160826-story.html

In the spring, Laura and John Arnold gave $450,000 from their Houston-based foundation to the Johns Hopkins University to support a city initiative to give free glasses to thousands of public school students to study how better vision improves school performance.

As city and university officials gathered in May to kick off that plan, the Baltimore Police Department's aerial surveillance program was receiving another $240,000 from the couple to ramp up.

The surveillance program — which has sent a single-engine plane flying 8,000 feet above Baltimore to record hundreds of hours of video — began in January with an earlier, $120,000 gift from the Arnolds to Persistent Surveillance Systems, the department's contractor on an effort that police officials never disclosed to the mayor before starting the monitoring.

While elected officials are clamoring for answers as to why the public was never informed of the clandestine crime-fighting flights, another question has emerged: Who are these 40-something philanthropists, Laura and John Arnold?

"The fact that they're so young and dedicated makes them stand out in the philanthropy world," said Stacy Palmer, editor of the Chronicle of Philanthropy, which tracks the giving of the nation's 50 wealthiest donors. "They're not the type of donors who want their names slapped on a building at a college. They give to advocacy."

In the past five years, the couple has given away $1.2 billion , according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy. Their foundation has $1.8 billion in assets and awarded $617 million in grants from January 2011 to June 30, 2016, tax and foundation records show.

The couple also has personally given away nearly $600 million during that time.

The Arnolds declined to be interviewed for this article. In a statement, they said the surveillance program dovetails with their strategy to support evidence-based techniques that help police departments fight crime.
 
Posts: 19505 | Registered: July 21, 2002Reply With QuoteReport This Post
The Whack-Job
Whisperer
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Homeys would just shoot it down anyway. There were areas in Charm city that the Space Shuttle didn't fly over. Wink Regards 18DAI


7+1 Rounds of hope and change
 
Posts: 4231 | Registered: August 13, 2006Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Shall Not Be Infringed
Picture of nhracecraft
posted Hide Post
quote:
Originally posted by trapper189:
quote:
and it’s effective in solving crimes,


Was it effective? I see nothing in the article that supports this premise. They had it for a year, so how many crimes did it solve?

Based on my read of that article, they NEVER had it....They looked at the program once, and rejected it TWICE!


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Posts: 8786 | Location: New Hampshire | Registered: October 29, 2011Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Lawyers, Guns
and Money
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quote:
The surveillance program — which has sent a single-engine plane flying 8,000 feet above Baltimore to record hundreds of hours of video — began in January with an earlier, $120,000 gift from the Arnolds to Persistent Surveillance Systems, the department's contractor on an effort that police officials never disclosed to the mayor before starting the monitoring.

So it's just a camera in the sky, 8,000 feet above Baltimore. Why is that a problem? Sounds like it might be worth a try.
Are there better ideas?

The crime problem in inner cities like Baltimore won't be "solved" until you get to the underlying causes which revolve around the break down of the family and the substitution of government programs for family.



"Some things are apparent. Where government moves in, community retreats, civil society disintegrates and our ability to control our own destiny atrophies. The result is: families under siege; war in the streets; unapologetic expropriation of property; the precipitous decline of the rule of law; the rapid rise of corruption; the loss of civility and the triumph of deceit. The result is a debased, debauched culture which finds moral depravity entertaining and virtue contemptible."
-- Justice Janice Rogers Brown

"The United States government is the largest criminal enterprise on earth."
-rduckwor
 
Posts: 23945 | Location: St. Louis, MO | Registered: April 03, 2009Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Go ahead punk, make my day
posted Hide Post
quote:
Originally posted by chellim1:

So it's just a camera in the sky, 8,000 feet above Baltimore. Why is that a problem? Sounds like it might be worth a try.
Are there better ideas?

The crime problem in inner cities like Baltimore won't be "solved" until you get to the underlying causes which revolve around the break down of the family and the substitution of government programs for family.


Oh, it's never 'just a camera'...

Gorgan Stare

My problem is the inherent abuse that can and will occur by surveillance 24/7/365.

By giving it 'for free', they can (1) collect TONS of data points, (2) tout effects on lowering crime, and (3) use that to roll this type of tech out everywhere. Which they are already trying to do. https://www.pss-1.com/

It's likely inevitable, because everyone willing gives up freedom for 'security'.
 
Posts: 45798 | Registered: July 12, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Savor the limelight
posted Hide Post
quote:
Originally posted by nhracecraft:
quote:
Originally posted by trapper189:
quote:
and it’s effective in solving crimes,


Was it effective? I see nothing in the article that supports this premise. They had it for a year, so how many crimes did it solve?

Based on my dead of that article, they NEVER had it....They looked at the program once, and rejected it TWICE!


The second article backs up my reading except it was for a period shorter than a year.
 
Posts: 10823 | Location: SWFL | Registered: October 10, 2007Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Resident Undertaker
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On another note, the Kirwan Commission which regulates spending in the state for school systems just released it's findings for next year. Baltimore City already spends more for each student than any other school system in the country. Kirwan recommends DOUBLING what we already give the City. They have the worst graduation rates in the nation. Madness.


John

The key to enforcement is to punish the violator, not an inanimate object. The punishment of inanimate objects for the commission of a crime or carelessness is an affront to stupidity.

 
Posts: 1727 | Location: People's Republik of Maryland | Registered: November 14, 2007Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Only dead fish
go with the flow
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It's mind boggling to me that anyone can be in favor of this. Sure, let's surrender more of our freedom and give the government more power and tools to use against us. After all, it's for the children.

Programs like this don't get abused and corrupted. The government would never lie to us. And it's free!!

Wake the fuck up already.
 
Posts: 1517 | Registered: March 25, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Member
posted Hide Post
quote:
Originally posted by pessimist:
It's mind boggling to me that anyone can be in favor of this. Sure, let's surrender more of our freedom and give the government more power and tools to use against us. After all, it's for the children.

Programs like this don't get abused and corrupted. The government would never lie to us. And it's free!!

Wake the fuck up already.


Exactly.

Don't believe the "just video surveillance" for crime purposes bs. They have been using this for a few years now collecting all types of data including text messages/phone calls without any consent and lord only know who has access to this stuff.

If the BPD is involved in anyway there is a 99% chance it's a total cluster. And they don't even have enough patrol officers to respond to basic calls, maybe they could start with that before recording our every move.

https://www.bloomberg.com/feat...secret-surveillance/ (article from 2016 about this)
 
Posts: 2690 | Location: Baltimore | Registered: October 22, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Baltimore, NYC and Chicago are oozing dem entrenched chancres.
 
Posts: 2422 | Location: newyorkistan | Registered: January 06, 2008Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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