Thread: Texas border sheriffs launch border camera program {UPDATE}

Texas border sheriffs launch border camera program
By ALICIA A. CALDWELL Associated Press Writer © 2008 The Associated Press
Nov. 20, 2008, 5:36PM

EL PASO, Texas — The Texas Border Sheriff's Coalition has launched a new network of Internet cameras aimed at the Mexican border in the latest effort to bolster local border security efforts with live video steaming.

Using a $2 million state grant, the TBSC turned on the 10 cameras Thursday afternoon.

Donald Reay, the coalition's executive director, said the group's one-year contract with BlueServo, a San Angelo-based company that helped with a similar state-run program in 2006, is good through next June, when the grant expires. The contract is worth up to $2 million, Reay said.

Much like during the monthlong test run of border cameras, users watching the cameras will be able to anonymously e-mail law enforcement to report suspicious activity. During the pilot program, 14,800 e-mails reporting suspicious behavior, suggestions for improvement, and other comments were sent to state officials.

That initial pilot project, Texas Border Watch, was riddled with technological glitches. Pictures from the cameras were grainy and some of the Web cameras were placed so high that it was difficult to distinguish from bush from a person. Images from the cameras available Thursday appeared clearer than previous pictures beamed from the border.

Reay said the new cameras have been placed in various locations along the border, some on private property and others in public locations. He declined to say where the cameras are, citing security concerns.

State officials canceled the bidding process for a new camera network — the state had hoped to place about 200 cameras along the border — after the bid deadline expired in mid-April. Allison Castle, a spokeswoman for Gov. Rick Perry's office, said the bids "were going to do too little and cost too much."

The deal between the border sheriffs and BlueServo will allow the company to sell advertising "to defray the infrastructure and costs of operating" the program, according to a statement from the coalition.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/6123912.html

Texas border sheriffs launch border camera program

Originally Posted by Rockfish

Texas border sheriffs launch border camera program

http://www.tlc2.uh.edu/TBSC/

here is the home page for the cams.
but im not seeing any links talking about cams to view or what not

DITTO

Originally Posted by jean

Originally Posted by Rockfish

Texas border sheriffs launch border camera program

Comments are being left at the source link.
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Live, virtual border-watch program goes back online
Brandi Grissom / Austin Bureau
Posted: 11/20/2008 12:00:00 AM MST

AUSTIN - Anyone, anywhere with a computer and a desire to protect the U.S.-Mexico border - or be a bit of a voyeur - can now get online and become a "Virtual Texas Deputy" by watching live streaming footage of the borderland.

The Texas Border Sheriff's Coalition and the social network BlueServo.net on Thursday launched the Internet border surveillance program that Gov. Rick Perry has been trying to get off the ground since 2006.

And with $2 million in grant money from Perry and what BlueServo hopes is a high volume of Web hits that generate advertising dollars, the company also has aims to expand the program beyond the border to create a virtual neighborhood watch social network.

"It's critical we leverage technology to help secure the border, and this virtual watch program is a key component to the governor's overall border security program," Perry spokeswoman Allison Castle said.
Perry announced plans to spend $5 million and put hundreds of cameras on the border during his re- election campaign in 2006 but had been unable to get the program going.

Sheriff's Coalition executive director Don Reay said Perry's office came to the group to see whether it could find a less expensive way to get the cameras going. The group has been working since June to launch the program, he said.

Perry gave the Sheriff's Coalition a $2 million grant, and the coalition contracted with BlueServo to operate the technology.

"The goal in the long run is that the public side of that Web site will eventually pay for this whole program through advertising," Reay said.
BlueServo will sell advertising, and under the contract will keep some of the money as profit and use the rest to run the border-watch Web site, he said.

In addition to advertisements, Virtual Texas Deputies will be able to view live footage from at least 10 cameras along the border. Reay said the number and locations of the cameras were being kept secret for security reasons.

When a virtual deputy spots suspicious activity, he or she can send an e-mail with the information.

That e-mail will go to BlueServo, which will forward the information to the appropriate law enforcement agency, Reay said.

"What it really does is very much like a high-tech neighborhood watch program, if you will," he said.

Before the official launch of the site, he said, it had already gotten 70 hits.

According to the Web site, www.BlueServo.net, plans are to take the program beyond the border.

Users will be able to connect their own surveillance cameras to the site "to create local Virtual Neighborhood Watches" in order to protect their own homes, neighborhoods, and families from criminal acts," the Web site says.

"It is a well-established fact that citizen involvement in community watch programs such as this one reduces crime," the site says.

Through a spokesman, El Paso County Sheriff Jimmy Apodaca said the border Web cameras would help prevent crime.

"Together, members of the community, law enforcement and technology will work together in an effort to deter criminal activity," Apodaca said.

http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_11038138

There is also a poll to take at the above source link which has been posted here?
http://www.alipac.us/ftopic-138760-0.html

So far 50 comments are at the source link.
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Border watch program called waste of money
By Brandi Grissom / Austin Bureau
Posted: 11/25/2008 12:00:00 AM MST

AUSTIN -- A waste of taxpayer dollars that could encourage border vigilantism is what some critics, including an El Paso lawmaker, called the virtual border watch program Texas border sheriffs unveiled last week with help from Gov. Rick Perry.
"This is just not an effective or efficient way of providing security to Texans," said Luis Figueroa, Mexican American Legal and Educational Defense Fund legislative attorney.

Last week, the Texas Border Sheriff's Coalition launched the virtual border watch program that Perry has been trying to get off the ground since 2006. With a $2 million grant from Perry, the sheriffs contracted with a private social networking company to launch the site.

By Saturday, the site had already received more than 195,000 hits, said Perry spokeswoman Allison Castle.

"This is leveraging technology to secure our border, and the goal is to deter those criminals," she said.

But critics blasted thepublic-private partnership as profiteering, pandering and a distraction from real problems on the border.

"It's almost a state-funded vigilante program," Figueroa said.

Perry gave the sheriffs a $2 million grant, and in July the group contracted with BlueServo, a social network company.

A copy of the renewable one-year contract, which the El Paso Times obtained under the Texas Freedom of Information Act, shows the Coalition paid $625,000 for one year of service, parts and materials and agreed to pay other fees for future services.

The contract allows BlueServo to sell advertisements on the site to pay operating costs. It prohibits ads that promote political candidates or measures, alcohol or tobacco products or ads that are "sexually suggestive."

BlueServo also has plans to expand the site beyond the border, allowing users to link up their own surveillance cameras and create a virtual neighborhood watch social network.

Matt Simpson, policy analyst at the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, called the plan weird and invasive. And, he said a previous test of border cameras showed they were ineffective at stopping criminals.

Perry launched a test-run of the border watch site with about a dozen cameras streaming video in November 2006. It got millions of hits and generated more than 14,800 e-mails. But an El Paso Times analysis of reports obtained through the open records requests revealed that all that Web traffic resulted in 10 immigrant apprehensions, one drug bust and the interruption of one smuggling route.

Simpson said Texas money would be better spent targeting drug and human trafficking and official corruption on the border.

"These cameras are not going to have a bit to do with that," he said.

John Honovich, founder of IP Video Market Info, said studies of surveillance programs have shown they usually deter crime only temporarily.

"Unless criminals observe and determine that the system is effective, the deterrence effect goes away," Honovich said.

State Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, said he worried the program would enable "virtual immigrant hunts" and was concerned that a government function was being privatized to help a company profit.

"Enforcement of America's immigration laws is not a BlueServo job," Shapleigh said. "It is a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol job."

Perry has been working on the virtual border watch since 2006, when he promised during his re-election campaign to spend $5 million to put up hundreds of surveillance cameras.

Lawmakers last year rejected Perry's request for funds for the program.

He secured a $2 million federal grant this year but was unable to find a vendor to provide the services for that price.

Texas Border Sheriff's Coalition spokesman Don Reay said Perry asked the group if they could find a more affordable solution.

"The fact that they are selling advertising offsets the cost to taxpayers," said Perry spokeswoman Castle.

BlueServo spokesman Joe Milam said the company doesn't expect to make thousands and thousands of dollars from the site. The goal, he said, is to help the border sheriffs.

"We are a capitalist society," Milam said. "If we can make some money on this thing É heck, maybe we'll buy each other a steak."

http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_11066175

1 month in, border cameras nab 1 load of pot
© 2008 The Associated Press
Dec. 16, 2008, 6:27PM
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EL PASO, Texas — A month after going online, a network of Internet cameras trained on the Texas-Mexico border is being credited with the arrest of three people and the seizure of about 550 pounds of marijuana.

Donald Reay, executive director of the Texas Border Sheriff's Coalition, said more than 1.8 million hits had been recorded since November's launch of the Web site where anyone can take a peek at more than a dozen cameras aimed at the border. Reay, whose group has partnered with private Internet company BlueServo for the $2 million project, said "upward of 1,000 e-mails" have also been sent to local law enforcement by users.
Reay said Tuesday he could not confirm any other arrests and did not know how many cases might have been referred to the U.S. Border Patrol.

Reay said based on the early data, including an average camera watcher spending more than eight minutes on the site, the program appears to be a success. But he said it was too early to tell if the sheriff's group would ask for more money from the state when http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/6168269.html

well thats 550 pounds that wont make american streets
so i guess the cams paid for themselves with this capture?