Atlanta to centralize police video collection

Published 12:24 pm Monday, February 14, 2011

The Atlanta Police Department plans to step up anti-crime surveillance with a new video integration center designed to compile footage from thousands of public and private security cameras citywide.

Officials say the venture will integrate and analyze data supplied by private entities such as CNN, America’s Mart and Midtown Blue as well as public agencies such as the Federal Reserve, MARTA and the Georgia Department of Transportation. It’s expected to be operational later this year.

David Wilkinson, president of the Atlanta Police Foundation, said the center will use software that can identify suspicious activity and guide officers to a crime in progress.

“The real goal is to prevent the crime,” Wilkinson said. “You do that by setting up police patrols, cameras, things that deter criminals from ever committing crime.”

The system is modeled after one used in Chicago that has drawn complaints from the American Civil Liberties Union. This week, the ACLU issued a report demanding a moratorium on further expansion of Chicago’s system on the grounds that it represents an unacceptable threat to personal privacy.

“Cameras do not deter crime; they just displace it,” said Adam Schwartz, a lawyer for the Illinois ACLU. “It’s difficult to see where the benefits of using cameras outweighs the costs including a vast amount of money, potential privacy invasion and a potential chilling of free speech.”

Atlanta Police Chief George Turner pointed to the case of Charles Boyer, who was gunned down outside an Atlanta apartment building in November.

Footage from a security camera, which captured images of men refueling a vehicle similar to one described by witnesses to the shooting, contributed to the arrest five days later of the three men charged with the slaying.

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Information from: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, http://www.ajc.com