Scranton OKs Surveillance Camera Network

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Lackawanna County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Scranton City Council on Thursday unanimously approved having the city create a community video-camera surveillance network at police headquarters.

Council voted 5-0, with President Bob McGoff and Councilmen Joe Wechsler, Pat Rogan, Jack Loscombe and Bill Gaughan all in favor, to adopt a resolution to apply for and execute a $146,390 grant for a “community surveillance network system” at the police station on South Washington Avenue.

Council also unanimously advanced on second reading an ordinance to create an account to process the grant.

The surveillance network would allow private surveillance cameras in the city, such as those at banks, businesses or colleges, to link to the police station. There, a wall of 32 video monitors will show live feeds from privately owned and operated surveillance cameras that already exist in public areas.

Read more: http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/scranton-oks-camera-network-1.1695262

Police Say Duo Had More Than 300 Packets Of Heroin

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Luzerne County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

KINGSTON, PA — A New Jersey man and his homeless associate were arrested Friday in a drug bust in which police seized more than 300 packets of heroin.

Kingston police say they received a phone call Friday morning from a confidential informant, who told them a drug deal was about to take place on Wright Avenue. The informant provided a description of the suspects and the vehicle — a red Jeep Cherokee — that would be involved.

Plain clothes detectives from the Kingston Police Narcotics Unit established surveillance in the area and saw a male fitting the description of one of the males provided by the informant in the area of Wright Avenue and Pierce Street not long after 12:30 p.m.

Read more: http://timesleader.com/news/local-news/1100762/Police-say-duo-had-more-than-300-packets-of-heroin

Snowden, In First TV Talk, Says Spying Worse Than Orwellian

LONDON – National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden invoked George Orwell and warned of the dangers of unchecked government surveillance Wednesday in a televised Christmas message to the British people that reflected his growing willingness to take a public role in the debate he ignited.

Speaking directly into the camera from Moscow, where he took refuge after leaking vast troves of information on NSA spying, Snowden said government surveillance methods far surpassed those described in Orwell’s novel 1984.

“The types of collection in the book – microphones and video cameras, TVs that watch us – are nothing compared to what we have available today,” he said. “We have sensors in our pockets that track us everywhere we go. Think about what this means for the privacy of the average person.”

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/nation_world/20131226_Snowden__in_first_TV_talk__says_spying_worse_than_Orwellian.html#3gVbhdh5Q74aqKM3.99

84 Arrested In Philly Narcotics Sweep

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Philadelphia County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Philadelphia police arrested 84 people and seized more than $100,000 worth of drugs in a citywide sweep earlier this week, the department announced Friday.

The sweep also yielded 18 firearms, including a .40 caliber assault rifle, police said.

The operation is the third of its kind that police have conducted this year, said Capt. Tom Davidson, the commanding officer of the Narcotics Field Unit. But Monday’s sweep was the first that focused on districts across the city, he said, instead of targeting a particular neighborhood.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/20131123_84_arrested_in_citywide_narcotics_sweep.html#GZOxcCyDCulfUZsF.99

Official: Snowden Wants Asylum In Russia

Edward Snowden plans to seek asylum in Russia, a Parliament member who was among those meeting with the NSA leaker said Friday.

Duma member Vyacheslav Nikonov told reporters of Snowden’s intentions after he and a dozen other prominent officials and activists met with Snowden in the transit zone of Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport, where Snowden has been marooned since June 23.

Snowden is believed to have been stuck in the airport’s transit zone since arriving from Hong Kong on June 23, as he negotiates for asylum in another country.

The activists included Sergei Nikitin, head of Amnesty International’s Russia office, and Tatiana Lokshina, deputy head of the Russian office of Human Rights Watch.  Also taken into the meeting room were Russia’s presidential human rights ombudsman Vladimir Lukin, prominent attorney Genri Reznik, and Nikonov.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/news/world/official-snowden-wants-asylum-in-russia-695202/#ixzz2YqiN6xd4

Confusion On Snowden Aceptance Of Venezuela Offer

MOSCOW (AP) – NSA leaker Edward Snowden accepted Venezuela‘s offer of political asylum, according to a posting Tuesday on the Twitter account of a Russian lawmaker with close ties to the Kremlin.  However, the tweet disappeared a few minutes later.

It was not possible to immediately reach Alexei Pushkov, the head of the Russian parliament’s foreign affairs committee who has acted as an unofficial point-man for the Kremlin on the Snowden affair.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/nation_world/20130709_ap_0b0fb18277a24f71a8942167a3fcf8b0.html#4e2FSiYYPEGvTSSi.99

Barring Of Bolivian Plane Infuriates Latin America As Snowden Case Widens

CARACAS, Venezuela — The geopolitical storm churned up by Edward J. Snowden, the fugitive American intelligence contractor, continued to spread on Wednesday as Latin American leaders roundly condemned the refusal to let Bolivia’s president fly over several European nations, rallying to his side after Bolivian officials said the president’s plane had been thwarted because of suspicions that Mr. Snowden was on board.

Calling it a grave offense to their entire region, Latin American officials said they would hold an emergency meeting of the Union of South American Nations on Thursday.

President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner of Argentina said the episode had “vestiges of a colonialism that we thought was completely overcome,” describing it as a humiliating act that affected all of South America.

President Rafael Correa of Ecuador said in a post on Twitter that the situation was “EXTREMELY serious” and called it an “affront to all America,” referring to Latin America.

Read more:  http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/04/world/snowden.html?hp&_r=0

Germany Wants ‘Trust Restored’ After US Spy Report

(AP) The German government wants “trust restored” with the United States following reports that American intelligence agencies bugged European Union offices, and has invited the U.S. ambassador in Berlin to the Foreign Ministry for a meeting on Monday.

A spokesman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters in Berlin on Monday that she was “alienated” by the reported eavesdropping conducted by the U.S. National Security Agency.

Read more:  http://www.timesleader.com/news/apbusiness/5868074486027363366/Germany-wants-trust-restored-after-US-spy-report

Snowden, In Russia, Said To Seek Asylum In Ecuador

MOSCOW — Edward J. Snowden, the fugitive former National Security Agency contractor wanted by the United States for leaking classified documents about global American surveillance, fled his Hong Kong hide-out for Moscow on Sunday aboard a commercial Russian jetliner, in what appeared to be the first step in an odyssey to seek political asylum in Ecuador.

In a day of frustrated scrambling by American officials who are seeking Mr. Snowden’s extradition — and had annulled his passport in attempts to foil any escape — he boarded an Aeroflot jetliner in Hong Kong that reached Moscow on Sunday afternoon.  The Russian Foreign Ministry said Mr. Snowden was in a Moscow airport transit area, apparently awaiting a connection to another country.

Ecuador’s foreign minister said that Mr. Snowden had submitted a request for asylum, an assertion corroborated by WikiLeaks, the organization that discloses government secrets and has come to the assistance of Mr. Snowden.  In a statement on its Web site, WikiLeaks said “he is bound for the Republic of Ecuador via a safe route for the purposes of asylum, and is being escorted by diplomats and legal advisors from WikiLeaks.”

Read more:  http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/24/world/asia/nsa-leaker-leaves-hong-kong-local-officials-say.html?hp&_r=0

At Lakehurst, Airships Are Taking Off Again

At Lakehurst‘s historic Hangar 1, made famous by the fiery Hindenburg disaster nearby 75 years ago, another airship is waiting to take off on its next mission.

While aloft, the manned 178-foot-long Navy blimp – emblazoned with red, white, and blue rudder stripes – has drawn wide-eyed stares from onlookers across Philadelphia’s suburbs and along the Jersey Shore over the last several months.

The MZ-3A‘s testing at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst is part of the U.S. military’s renewed interest in airships, known for their ability to stay airborne for long periods and land without runways.

“Over the past decade, as drones have gained favor in identifying and sometimes engaging enemy forces, an ‘old-new’ concept has also reappeared – the observation dirigible,” said Guillaume de Syon, an aviation historian, author, and professor at Albright College in Reading.

Read more: http://www.philly.com/philly/news/new_jersey/20120730_At_Lakehurst__airships_are_taking_off_again.html?cmpid=124488469

Pittsburgh And Its Suburbs Having Success With Surveillance Cameras

Image via Wikipedia

The City of Pittsburgh and some adjacent suburbs are successfully using surveillance cameras to deter and solve crime. 

Pittsburgh has surveillance cameras in place downtown and in various neighborhoods throughout the city.  According to their 2009 Department of Public Safety, Bureau of Police, Annual Report, there are 120 cameras throughout the city they hope to tie-in to a wireless platform at the Emergency Operations Center and other key locations for constant monitoring of video and data transmissions. 

Another goal is to have at least 32 cameras on 16 bridges.  The mayor also wants to install gunshot locator and detection cameras in high-risk neighborhoods. (I believe Harrisburg uses these.)

Pittsburgh is adding 28 more cameras, using a $3 million grant along with 25 percent matching funds from the city, as part of the Pittsburgh Initiative to Reduce Crime program.  Pittsburgh’s ultimate goal is a city-wide camera system, which includes the Port of Pittsburgh (the second largest inland port in the U.S.)

Surveillance cameras will be added in suburban Swissvale, prompted by a rash of crime in Regent Square.  Three cameras will be installed along Braddock Avenue within two months.  Ten to twelve more cameras will be added at other locations in the borough.  Each camera costs $9,000, which includes installation, but there are grants available for municipalities to buy surveillance cameras.

Other communities with surveillance cameras include Homestead, West Homestead and Munhall.

Under Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, Pittsburgh has experienced three consecutive years of historic-crime-lows, according to the city’s website.  According to our friends at City-data.com, Pittsburgh’s crime index has dropped from 558.3 in 2007 to 474.8 in 2009 (Pottstown’s 2009 crime index was 454.7 if you live locally). Murders dropped from 72 in 2008 to 39 in 2009.  Most crime categories showed drops between 2008 and 2009.  2010 crime data is not available at this time.

HINT: If the inexpensive crime tracking software Scranton purchased was used to determine surveillance camera placement that would seem to be an ideal crime fighting tool for Pottstown’s core neighborhood!  Just sayin’….