The cameras would operate on a wireless network and “dramatically enhance the city’s public safety and homeland security capabilities” Mayor Luke Ravenstahl said in a statement.
The city, CMU, and CCAC are hoping to tap part of the $2.6 billion available in the second round of the broadband technology opportunities program. Applications were due March 26. The grant program is administered by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration.
Some of the cameras would be used to enhance security on the CCAC campus. No cameras would be placed on the CMU campus. Researchers there would develop programs for using data captured by the cameras, Howard Stern, the city’s chief information officer, said.
Eventually, Dr. Stern said, the network might be tapped for wider uses such as providing residents with free internet access at libraries.
“Pittsburgh, colleges seek $14 million for more security cameras” by Joe Smydo, P-G 4-1-10
It was fortuitous for Mayor Luke Ravenstahl that on the day he made a pitch for 220 more security cameras around the city, a set of four such devices proved instrumental in solving the killing of a retired firefighter.
The arrest of two young men in the March 14 killing of Mark Barry was not the first time that security cameras have aided city police in solving crimes. In this case, the cameras are owned by the Brightwood Civic Group on the North Side, just as numerous organizations and businesses operate electronic monitors to protect their own interests.
The city itself has installed 20, and another 40 to 50 devices should be in place by June, all connected with the Port of Pittsburgh and focused on rivers and bridges, according to the city’s chief information officer, Howard Stern.
Now, the city, Community College of Allegheny County and Carnegie Mellon University are seeking $16 million in federal stimulus money, enough to pay for 220 more electronic eyes on Pittsburgh streets. The city police bureau would decide where the cameras would go, and they could be easily removed and repositioned based on patterns of criminal activity.
They can cover the world with cameras, but they can’t stop the guys in the monitor rooms from jerking off or playing the fifteenth sequel to “Doom” for the hundredth time.Grant Morrison, The Invisibles
Have fun and smile.