[Infowarrior] - NYPD's $10M eye in the sky

Sat May 24 16:41:43 UTC 2008

Unmarked chopper patrols NY city from high above  	
May 23 04:24 PM US/Eastern
By TOM HAYS
Associated Press Writer 	

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D90RIHF00&show_article=1

		NEW YORK (AP) - On a cloudless spring day, the NYPD helicopter soars  
over the city, its sights set on the Statue of Liberty.

A dramatic close-up of Lady Liberty's frozen gaze fills one of three  
flat-screen computer monitors mounted on a console. Hundreds of  
sightseers below are oblivious to the fact that a helicopter is  
peering down on them from a mile and a half away.

"They don't even know we're here," said crew chief John Diaz, speaking  
into a headset over the din of the aircraft's engine.

The helicopter's unmarked paint job belies what's inside: an arsenal  
of sophisticated surveillance and tracking equipment powerful enough  
to read license plates—or scan pedestrians' faces—from high above the  
nation's largest metropolis.

Police say the chopper's sweeps of landmarks and other potential  
targets are invaluable in helping guard against another terrorist  
attack, providing a see-but-avoid-being-seen advantage against bad guys.

"It looks like just another helicopter in the sky," said Assistant  
Police Chief Charles Kammerdener, who oversees the department's  
aviation unit.

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly has said that no other U.S. law  
enforcement agency "has anything that comes close" to the surveillance  
chopper, which was designed by engineers at Bell Helicopter and  
computer technicians based on NYPD specifications.

The chopper is named simply "23"—for the number of police officers  
killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

The $10 million helicopter is just part of the department's efforts to  
adopt cutting-edge technology for its counterterrorism operations.

The NYPD also plans to spend tens of millions of dollars strengthening  
security in the lower Manhattan business district with a network of  
closed-circuit television cameras and license-plate readers posted at  
bridges, tunnels and other entry points.

Police have also deployed hundreds of radiation monitors—some worn on  
belts like pagers, others mounted on cars and in helicopters—to detect  
dirty bombs.

Kelly even envisions someday using futuristic "stationary airborne  
devices" similar to blimps to conduct reconnaissance and guard against  
chemical, biological and radiological threats.

Civil rights advocates are skeptical about the push for more  
surveillance, arguing it reflects the NYPD's evolution into ad hoc spy  
agency.

"From a privacy perspective, there's always a concern that 'New York's  
Finest' are spending millions of dollars to engage in peeping tom  
activities," said Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York  
Civil Liberties Union.

Police insist that law-abiding New Yorkers have nothing to fear.

"Obviously, we're not looking into apartments," Diaz said during a  
recent flight. "We don't invade the privacy of individuals. We only  
want to observe anything that's going on in public."

The helicopter's powers of observation come from a high-powered  
robotic camera mounted on a turret projecting from its nose like a  
periscope. The camera has infrared night-vision capabilities and a  
satellite navigation system that allows police to automatically zoom  
in on a location by typing in the address on a computer keyboard.

The surveillance system can beam live footage to police command  
centers or even to wireless hand-held devices.

"The commander on the ground can see what we're seeing," Diaz said.

On this flight, the helicopter used the camera to look for signs of  
trouble at several key transportation sites: the decks of Staten  
Island ferry terminal, the stanchions of the Verrazzano-Narrows  
Bridge, the giant air vents feeding the Lincoln Tunnel. All of them  
passed inspection.

Without leaving Manhattan airspace, the chopper also was able to get a  
crystal-clear picture of jetliners waiting to take off from LaGuardia  
Airport and to survey Kennedy International Airport's jet fuel lines,  
which were targeted in a plot uncovered last year.

The chopper has helped track down fleeing suspects, including a recent  
case of a gunman who had shot his wife in Queens. As officers on the  
ground worried about how to approach the suspect's car, the camera in  
the sky hovered overhead, peeked inside the vehicle and found that he  
had already shot and killed himself.

During Pope Benedict XVI's recent visit, 23 patrolled the skies, at  
one point receiving a call from officers who had spotted a suspicious  
man with a camera on a rooftop near the pontiff's residence. Diaz  
radioed back that it was a false alarm.

"There was a modeling shoot going on," he said.