Thread: State cancels border camera request for now

May 16, 2008, 5:59PM
State cancels border camera request for now


By KELLEY SHANNON Associated Press Writer
© 2008 The Associated Press

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AUSTIN — Texas officials have at least temporarily canceled a bid request for a border video camera network aimed at allowing the public to help spot illegal immigrants and drug smugglers.

Gov. Rick Perry and his emergency management division dubbed the system a "virtual border neighborhood watch" that would build on a monthlong pilot program that operated in 2006.

Cameras were to be placed on private property along the Texas-Mexico border, and the public worldwide was to have viewing access to the video on the Internet.

But as the bidding companies awaited word on which firm would get the contract after the proposal deadline in mid-April, a state government Web posting for the project was marked this week in big red letters: NOTE: SOLICITATION HAS BEEN CANCELED!!!

The state pilot program was plagued by technical problems. Images were grainy, and some cameras were placed so high it was difficult to distinguish a person from a bush. Other cameras were placed in the tall carrizo cane that grows along the banks of the Rio Grande and obscured the view. Authorities tried to work out other glitches, such as how to use batteries or solar power on undeveloped border land and how to transmit by wireless signal.

But state officials said the project isn't dead.

"They're going to rebid it," Tela Mange, spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Public Safety, said Friday. She said she had no details on the reason.

DPS is handling the contract procurement for the project.

Perry spokeswoman Allison Castle responded to an inquiry from The Associated Press with an e-mail Friday saying that the proposal request had been "pulled down" and that the state was "looking at other options for implementing" the cameras.

The governor's office identified $2 million in federal grants to pay for the surveillance program, saying it would complement an existing federal border camera program and upcoming federal high-tech camera surveillance projects.

The recent state contract request called for fixed and mobile cameras and Internet feeds in border counties and some adjacent counties.

Cameras were to transmit images to local sheriffs' offices. Those watching on the Web would have been able to contact law enforcement about suspicious activity either online or through toll-free telephone number. The bid request sought an estimated 200 cameras.

Originally, Perry's office said it wanted to get the project going by January 2008, but bureaucratic delays prevented that, his aides said .

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/5786369.html

This along with reports of other things I've heard recently lends me to believe that they are doing away with whatever tidbit of border security that they had.