| << Back to Press Menu | |
| Cameras to Keep Eyes on BR Security threats, possible targets to be monitored By MIKE DUNNE, Advocate staff writer Published: Mar 31, 2006 VIEW ORIGINAL ARTICLE East Baton Rouge Parish will install 58 surveillance cameras across the parish to monitor potential terrorist threats to critical infrastructure, covering mostly downtown, the Scenic Highway industrial area, the western Florida Boulevard corridor and key intersections. “Critical infrastructure will include water treatment plants, the Metro Airport, railroads, natural gas and electrical substations, port facilities and local, state and federal governmental buildings that could be the target of a terrorist attack,” Mayor Kip Holden said during a press conference Thursday afternoon. The project, which Holden called a “video security awning,” is being paid for by a $867,000 grant from the federal Department of Homeland Security, which helped decide where to put the cameras. DHS limits how the cameras can be used and the focus is to monitor security threats and not to catch motorists running red lights or other criminal activity, the mayor said. Law enforcement officials will be one of the groups empowered to control the cameras, which will have about a half-mile range and can rotate 360 degrees as well as pan up and down, mayoral assistant Hampton Grunewald said. Grunewald showed video footage from similar cameras used in New Orleans, including a nighttime zoom shot of a car’s license plate. Baton Rouge’s cameras should have even better resolution, he said. Should critical infrastructure being monitored be attacked, law enforcement and homeland security officials would be able to assess the danger and alert first responders to the potential dangers and conditions, the mayor said. Officials will be able to control the cameras over the Internet. The recordings captured by the cameras will be public record, available by a public-records request, Grunewald said. Holden said police cars will soon be equipped with video cameras and he hopes the parish will be able to augment this homeland security program with a local one to also monitor high-crime areas. “Big Brother,” referring to fictional accounts of a repressive government watching over people, “is certainly not at play here,” said Walter Monsour, Holden’s chief administrative officer. The Department of Homeland Security is requiring that the cameras be used for security purposes only, Monsour said. “We have to be prudent.” The system should be operational in about two months. Holden said he hopes to have the cameras and accompanying technology in place before the beginning of hurricane season on June 1. Holden said parish Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness Director JoAnne Moreau has been working closely with DHS to increase the security of critical infrastructure within the parish and helped arrange the grant. The cameras are connected to a central monitoring facility through a wireless system. Authorized agents from the local police departments and homeland security will have mobile access to the live video. “Through this technology, we can make our parish safer for the public and industry,” Holden said. “Keeping Baton Rouge secure is critical to the economic stability of Louisiana. As our capital city and home to two major universities and many large industries, it’s important that we pursue homeland security funds for East Baton Rouge Parish.” |
|