Skycop surveillance systems are coming to a police dept. near you.
Memphis, Tennessee-based ESI Companies, Inc. is behind a quite creepy technology platform they call SkyCop, capable of enabling widespread, long-term surveillance across entire cities.
SkyCop is just one of many aspects of the massive rise of video surveillance, including cloud-based video surveillance, in cities across the world. One must also consider the rise of technologies like behavioral recognition along with a massive increase in the deployment of facial recognition in everything from mannequins in retail stores to border crossings and more.
SkyCop sounds thoroughly futuristic as it integrates fusion centers, mobile surveillance systems, remote video systems, vehicle license plate and surveillance systems, digital recording systems and wireless communication, it has already been deployed in some areas.
The platform was originally developed in 2007 in concert with the Memphis Police Department, according to ESI Companies, as part of the police department’s Blue Crush Initiative.
Toledo, Ohio has deployed SkyCop as part of their Observation Research Intelligence Operations Network (ORION), and has plans to double the number of cameras to a total of 150 according to the Toledo Free Press.
Toledo isn’t alone. The Fort Leonard Wood military police purchased two Dodge Chargers in 2009 outfitted with the SkyCop system according to Guidon.
According to El Paso Inc., the El Paso Police Department has “quietly expanded its use of the SkyCop system” since 2009 and raised concerns among the ACLU of Texas given “the technology’s potential to invade people’s privacy.”
According to ESI, others who have picked up SkyCop technologies include the city of Millington, Tennessee, Shelby County, Tennessee, Olive Branch, Mississippi and Brownsville, Texas.
“Crime centers, also known as fusion centers, are now recognized as a vital technological defense to combat exacerbating crime rates,” the SkyCop website claims.
In reality, a Senate panel concluded that the Department of Homeland Security’s fusion centers produce “predominantly useless information” and “a bunch of crap.”
The SkyCop platform seems to be aimed at creating an all-encompassing surveillance state integrating solar powered surveillance systems capable of wireless communications, gunshot recognition, environmental sensing devices, etc., Mobile License Plate Recognition & Video Surveillance Systems (MLPRVs), wireless network systems with a range of 30+ miles, and even data analytics supposedly allowing police to “examine past criminal behavior to better predict future criminal activity.”
http://endthelie.com/2013/02/20/skycop-the-creepy-technology-that-could-place-your-city-under-pervasive-surveillance/#axzz2Ld7pQpnq
Read more about SkyCop & other surveillance platforms being used by police:
http://massprivatei.blogspot.com/2013/02/police-in-washington-will-begin-using_20.html