Surveillance cameras to go on five bridges
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By early fall, about two dozen high-tech cameras will be in place at the ends of five bridges over the Allegheny River as part of a continuing effort to create a network of surveillance video cameras informally dubbed the "ring of steel" on highways and in public spaces across the county.
J.P. Hudson & Associates, a Beaver County security consulting firm hired to coordinate the overall project since its launch five years ago, met with vendors last week to discuss specifications for the job along Route 28 and Freeport Road so they can submit bids.
The work, paid for with about $250,000 in grant money from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security secured by the Allegheny County district attorney's office, is expected to start in the spring.
Bids will be opened in March, and the cameras should be installed by the beginning of fall.
The idea is to add more law enforcement eyes to one of the region's busiest highway corridors, as the city and county have done in Downtown, Swissvale, Munhall and elsewhere since the city's mayor and district attorney first proposed the network in 2007 with a $3.5 million federal grant.
The "ring of steel" concept was developed in London in 1998, when the city created a surveillance and security cordon to protect the financial district from terrorists. Many cities have since applied the moniker to their own expanding camera systems.
About 40 percent of Downtown is now under surveillance by security cameras linked to the county 911 center. The city also has dozens of other cameras on bridges, some designed to take photos of license plates and others that monitor traffic 24 hours a day.
The cameras along Route 28 will be similar. Some will read license plates, and others are high-resolution internet protocol cameras that are capable of zooming in on someone's face.
The goal is to monitor the roadways in search of people wanted on outstanding warrants or suspects of major crimes.
"Imagine having a police officer at the end of every bridge writing down license plates," John Hudson, CEO of J.P. Hudson & Associates, said of the license-reading devices. "The cameras take snapshots of license plates with a time stamp, and that can be compared to a database like an Amber Alert list."
District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. -- who had consulted with the American Civil Liberties Union, community groups and business owners to address privacy concerns prior to the 2007 proposal -- said the goal is to link existing analog cameras with newer internet protocol systems and eventually create the kind of modern surveillance networks his office has studied in California and Texas.
Some municipalities, such as Ross, have older-generation cameras on major arteries such as McKnight Road, which Mr. Zappala said were instrumental in tracking accused rapist Arthur Henderson two weeks ago. But those cameras can't read plates or zoom in on a face.
The ones along the Allegheny will be more sophisticated.
He said the concept for the Route 28 work is to create a "backbone" for similar highway projects in the county.
The cameras will be installed on both ends of the 62nd Street, Highland Park, Hulton, New Kensington and Tarentum bridges and at the intersection of Fox Chapel and Freeport roads.
First Published January 30, 2012 12:00 am
