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- LOS ANGELES - In a
crime-plagued part of southeastern Los Angeles County known as Willowbrook,
the steady beat from police helicopters can make it seem as though Big
Brother is always watching. Maybe not, but under a new survellance program,
county police are always listening.
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- The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deartment, trying to
quicken its responses to shootings, has hidden six microphones on utility
poes and rooftops in a 1-square-mile area as part of a privately funded
exeriment. The microphones pick up loud noises, such as gunshots and exploding
fireworks.
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- They are linked to a computer system that can pinpoint
the origin of such sounds to within 20 feet in 7 seconds. The system alerts
police dispatchers, who then can send officers to the scene and have a
computerized phone system call residents in the area to ask them about
the gunfire.
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- The program, which has drawn interest from law enforcement
agencies across the USA, reflects one of the ways technology is increasingly
affecting anti-crime effots. Authorities say that because gunfire in such
high-crime areas rarely is reported by violence weary residents, the system
can give them an earlier start in investigating shootings. It also has
provided a window into daily life in part of one of the county's most violent
police districts, where more than 120 people have been slain in the past
2 1/2 years.
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- Sheriff's Deputy Thomas Fortier says that before the
microphones were installed, officers hadn't realized the frequency of gunfire
in Willowbrook.
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- "It has surprised us how many times gunshots aren't
reported," he says. "Out of 10 gunshots, I'd say we get two
calls. People wake up in the night and say: 'Well, I wasn't hit. My house
wasn't hit. I'm going back to sleep.' A level of complacency has set
in."
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- Since the listening system began operating in March,
only one arrest has been linked directly to its surveillance. That was
on April 29, when it heard gunfire at 2:5 a.m. Police arrested a man,
charged him with illegally discharging a firearm and seized four guns.
There were no witnesses, other than the 6-inch-tall, coffee-can-shaped
microphones that heard the shot. There had been eight shooting incidents
on the street before the arrest; there has not been one since.
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- Although the system's promise hasn't translated into
many arrests, police are optimistic.
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- "It's cutting edge technology, and it's only the
tip of the iceberg," says Lt. Sid Heal, who oversees the department's
technology programs.
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- "Any technology that provides police and citizens
with more notice of a potentially deadly situation has tremendous public
safety implications," says James Pasco, executive director of the
Fraternal Order of Police, the nation's largestlaw enforcement group with
nearly 300,000 members.
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- Residents don't seem to mind the microphones, but the
surveillance has drawn criticism from privacy advocates, who wonder whether
the microphones are picking up more than just gunshots, firecrackers and
other loud noises.
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- "This is a first visible example that we're creating
an infrastructure of surveillance," says Jeff Chester, who heads the
Center for Media Education, an advocacy group that works on Internet and
data-privacy issues. "We want a rapid response to protect public safety,
but I think this kind of technology goes beyond prudent police work. This
community eavesdropping is a very dangerous concept."
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- Local activists and officials have focuses their concerns
not on privacy, but on the overall actions of authorities.
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- Arturo Ybarra, executive director of the Watts Century
Latino Organization, says his only complaint is that the community should
be kept better informed about the Sheriff's Department's anti-crime efforts.
"That should be the approach, not just coming around someplace and
hunting around the community to see who is shooting."
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- Glenda Wina, press secretary for county Supervisor Brathwaite
Burke, who represents the area, says, "We haven't heard anything from
our constituents in terms of privacy."
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- Wina calls the system a "deterrant. Summer can
be a dangerous time in some areas of (Burke's) district. Last year when
we opened one of the pools, 24 rounds were fired."
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- The surveillance system is called Shot Spotter. It was
developed by Trilon Technology of Los Altos, Calif. Earlier versions,
without the program that calls residents, have been used in San Mateo County
and Redwood City, Calif., since 1995. Over time, San Mateo's sheriff's
Lt. Greg Trindle says, the system has "really quieted things down.
On holidays, it used to sound like a war zone. It was continuous rounds
of every caliber imaginable."
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- In Los Angeles County, "we put it in an area infested
with gangs" Heal says. "The people here needed this, and we
wanted to let them know they hadn't been forgotten."
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- A photo caption for the article stated "Other police
agencies, including the U.S Capitol Police and the Secret Service, are
likely to employ the technology."
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