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Oct 5, 4:25 PM EDT

Border cameras operating, but not online yet

AUSTIN (AP) -- Three months after Republican Gov. Rick Perry announced his plan to let anyone with Internet access report crime along the Texas-Mexico border by watching feeds from surveillance cameras, the virtual border watch program is still not online.

The delay has occurred because officials wanted to ensure the cameras and other infrastructure provide the best signals and coverage, said Texas Homeland Security Steve McCraw. But, McCraw said, the program is moving forward.

On June 1, Perry announced he would use $5 million in state money to place hundreds of cameras in vast stretches of remote, criminal hotspots along the border and broadcast the images live on the Internet. Law enforcement agencies would monitor the camera feeds.

Perry likened the effort to a neighborhood watch program and said he hoped the images would be online in about a month. His office later extended that timetable another two months.


"We have to make sure these things are secure and that they can handle the tremendous amount of hits we know we'll have through the servers. You're going to get millions of people on it," Perry's campaign spokesman Robert Black said in Thursday's Austin American-Statesman.

McCraw said it's better to be good than early.

"Anybody can put up a camera, but can it be supported and sustained and does it work and does it meet technical requirements?" he said.

One of the biggest challenges was providing the best signals in rural and open range areas, he said.

McCraw said 15 surveillance cameras are operating, but the images are available only to law enforcement and landowners where cameras are located. He said the state is wrapping up a free demonstration period and could request proposals from technology companies as soon as this week.

When the cameras go online will depend on the public bidding process, McCraw said, adding that demonstrations showed that the state may need four providers to meet different technological and infrastructure needs.

McCraw said the cameras already have aided in the recovery of a stolen pickup.

He said officers would be able to view streaming images on mobile devices while on foot or in their cars. It's likely that some cameras will be mobile so that they can be used in areas where they are needed, McCraw said.

Some civil rights groups have criticized the virtual border watch plan, saying it will instill fear in border communities and could lead to fraudulent crime reports and racial profiling.