Tuesday, April 28, 2009 .

Officials offer first look at border cameras

Cameras part of $30M effort to watch Canadian border

Charles E. Ramirez and Gregg Krupa / The Detroit News

Harrison Township -- Federal officials on Monday unveiled a new high-tech surveillance system slated to be installed on the St. Clair River this summer, as part of a stepped-up effort to combat illegal border crossing and drug smuggling.

The 11 remote video surveillance towers will monitor about 37 miles of the U.S.-Canadian border for suspicious activity, but won't keep tabs on recreational boaters, U.S. Rep. Candice Miller said.

"This is only about border security," she said. "They're not looking for someone drinking beer on their boat."

Miller, R-Harrison Township, said the surveillance system is part of the $30 million Northern Border Initiative, the Department of Homeland Security's program to ramp up border security between the U.S. and Canada.

Miller and officials with U.S. Customs and Border Protection took the wraps off the security system during a press conference at Selfridge Air National Guard Base.Local law enforcement officials said they welcome the new system.

"It'll give us a better idea about what we're looking at," said Randy Gallegos, U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Chief Patrol Agent for the Detroit Sector. "It will also help us deploy our manpower smartly. If we notice that it's legitimate boating traffic, there's no need to send an agent out to investigate and we can see it through the cameras."

The system includes a mobile surveillance truck, and each 80-foot tower will have a conventional video camera and an infrared camera. Installation will start by July, with some of the cameras operational by August.

The federal agency is still determining precisely where the towers will be placed along the St. Clair River between Lake Huron and Lake St. Clair.

Three of the towers will be attached to existing buildings -- the Port Huron City Building, Detroit Edison's St. Clair Plant and a U.S. Coast Guard structure on Harsens Island, officials said.

Members of Congress and other observers expressed concerns in 2007 and 2008 about a "virtual fence" installed along portions of the border with Mexico when it became clear the system had malfunctioned. But the cameras to be installed along the St. Clair River are only a subset of the more complex system, and not reliant on computer software.

While Congress is likely to monitor the cameras installed in Michigan, congressional staff said they anticipate far fewer problems with the initiative.

Mostly, there is some encouragement in Washington that the northern border is beginning to see some of the same attention from Homeland Security as the southern border.

"We will be watching the deployment closely and we are hopeful that it will lead to increased security on our northern border," said U.S. Rep. Bennie G. Thompson. D- Miss., chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security.

Civil liberties advocates often express concerns about camera surveillance because it tends to gather lots of activity for which there is no reason to suspect illegal activity.

"When cameras were installed in London, it was found that the operators were using them to ogle women and following people based on their race," said Shelli Weisberg, legislative director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan. "We are concerned about the privacy implications and what kinds of safeguards will be in place.

"The ACLU is always concerned with the mounting of cameras, especially because there is so little evidence that this is one of the wiser ways to spend resources."

David Schaden, 36, of Grosse Pointe said he wasn't worried about surveillance of his frequent trips around Lake St. Clair and the St. Clair River. "I guess it'll probably be OK," he said.

Schaden said that while he wasn't aware of the Customs and Border Protection's plans for the surveillance system, he has noticed the department's agents have increased their presence in the area.

cramirez@detnews.com (586) 468-2905

http://www.detnews.com/article/20090428 ... 1409/METRO