EAST ORANGE -- First there were gunshot detectors, then surveillance cameras — both of which police credit with dramatic decreases in crime. Now East Orange has installed a state-of-the-art tracking system that may be able to snitch on bad behavior without human eyes.
Today, the city’s police department unveiled the new system that includes programmed sensors capable of identifying criminal behavior as it is happening.
Police Director Jose Cordero showed off the technology today at a press conference, at which over 200 public officials and international law enforcement agents were in attendance.
"We want to change the criminal mindset about wanting to commit the crime," Cordero said. "This is about real-time deterrence."
Cordero said the new system’s cameras, which have been installed throughout the city, have computer chips that automatically sense hundreds of suspicious scenarios and alert police.
For example, Cordero said, if two people approach an individual on the street, and the individual becomes evasive or tries to run away, the camera will alert operators of a possible robbery. The operators can view the area on their computers and dispatch the nearest officers within one second.
Cordero said the sensors do not recognize race, age or other factors that may lead to discrimination.
The cameras were developed by Australian company DigiSensory, which used the sensors in Sydney in 2008 when the pope came to visit, said the company’s chief executive officer Tarik Hammadou. The sensors are unique to the United States, and Cordero said they have mainly been used experimentally and have not been fully integrated into police tracking systems until now.
Hammadou contacted East Orange last year when he learned Cordero had installed gunshot detectors and surveillance cameras to reduce crime in 2004. The city has credited the technology, costing $1.8 million, with a more than 70 percent drop in crime between 2003 and 2008.
Police officials from around the world have taken an interest in East Orange. Last week, Brazilian government officials who are preparing for the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics visited the city to learn how they could heighten security, Cordero said. Police director Ahmet Kirkpinak from Ankara, Turkey, came to the conference today, saying cities in his country were starting to develop surveillance technology.
"This is exactly what we want to do," Kirkpinak said. "This was a good opportunity to learn how this is done. (East Orange) is spending millions. They are doing it right."
But Dennis Kenney, a criminal justice professor at John Jay College, said using the technology as a law enforcement tool is a pipe dream.
"To argue that somehow it’s going to be able to distinguish the guy who’s going to the ATM and the robber at the ATM is a fantasy. The technology is just not sophisticated enough," Kenney said in a phone interview. "Basically, the citizens have to decide whether they feel comfortable being watched all the time."
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