-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- In the December '94 issue of Wired, ("Watching the Detectives", p. 141), Sandy Sanfort describes Bob Fleming's work to make real-time permanent recordings of the body positions of police officers. One could place a small sensor on each wrist and ankle, and record the positions (and velocities) of the cops body to with a _centimeter_, anywhere in a city. The advantage for cops is that a fallen officer can be quickly located, and a cop's claim to have witnessed an event can be corroborated by demonstrating that he was actually there. The advantage for society is that the cop's behaviour, such as billy-club swinging velocity, can be monitored. It could detectgunfire, too, by measuring the kick that is transmitted down the cop's wrist. This would work to the extent that the equipment is actually mounted on the cop it claims to belong to, so some manner of authentication would be needed. Also discussed is the idea of car or helmet mounted cameras, transmitting images continuously, to be stored by a neutral third-party, in the event of a legal challenge, either from the accused claiming that the cop is lying, or of claims of police brutality. After the Rodney King incident, I had the notion, (which I did not act on to actually promote, I'm sorry to say), that organizations representing people that feel persecuted by the law could issue disposable cameras to all there members. For example, if a street gang felt the cops were thumping their members with unwarranted enthusiasm, the gang could purchase a case of cameras at the local Price Club, and everyone could carry them to photograph the cops. In addition, cameras could be unobtrusively mounted on car hoods, perhaps with three or four such cameras multiplexing their images onto a single videotape (one wants a wide, but not necessarily tall aspect ratio; three such cameras with fisheye lenses could cover the hole perimer of a car). The VCR would be in a fireproof safe welded to the car frame (or use a surplus flight recorder package), so it would take extra effort for a cop to conceal the evidence of wrongdoing after mistreating the driver. It would also be handy for assigning responsibility in traffic accidents. Yes, that's right - keep surveillance cameras going on _yourself_. If you're not doing anything illegal, you've got nothing to fear from taping everything you do. Of course, after the difficulty the City of Santa Cruz had in establishing a Police Review commission, and considering that its powers were eviscerated in light of a lawsuit threat by a police union, I expect that it will be difficult to convince our Nation's Finest to adopt this new technology - though I'm sure they'd be happy to apply it to parolees and those serving on probation. Adoption could be initially achieved, though, by pointing out to private security firms that their liability could be reduced by monitoring their employees - obvious slackers could be immediately fired, troublesome guards could be disciplined, and the firm could demonstrate in court that the guard was nowhere near the scene when the plaintiff claimed to have been beaten by a guard. Private security guards have nowhere near the influence that police unions do, and so would have little power in arguing against it. Later on, cities faced with expensive lawsuits could strike a deal with the liability insurance companies to save money if the city cops use this stuff. After the DT fiasco, and the mention yesterday of the DOJ's new Big Brother Database, I thought you'd like to hear that someone's working on giving Big Bro the stick too. I personally feel that a society that _needed_ to do this to its cops is an abhorrent society. But perhaps we could strike a deal with Big Bro - if you don't tap our phones, we won't pass laws to tap your cops. Best Wishes in this Holiday Season, -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6 iQCVAwUBLusCMKJTibhK6XY5AQF+IAP+MCHtgnCbJc96lrOcoNt0HWal4nNF7JVN t6qIM6DDdGp5+IEimHTzgkUlUSZ4ojcIYEbjaae8Q58VRMOQ9zFaZlIWSeTTgZiQ wXIicZJreKeonTI0mwZauAbtmuEy3vWRp19Qf2fYwaMOY3QLy1vhTgG7g2iRpccI T6YspCxcYdw= =YK34 -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- -----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- Version: 2.6 mQCPAy7JYr8AAAEEAJ4GpoYcH5abkSq5FZQ9LxoP9oKKQDXHRGZT8QCcnVZ8o87H p9kEaUJIyzGbMHpO7C09qShwcrII2VfCZ77iWlBglmdLEa/dKXRCSWMFF52RcSDh zJF8m0wE2SZ9x4Y6KuXM3RwJVdEKLhsAImxckvfj0UBvb5xtJ6JTibhK6XY5ABEB AAG0LU1pY2hhZWwgRC4gQ3Jhd2ZvcmQgPGNyYXdmb3JkQHNjaXBwLnVjc2MuZWR1 PokAVQMFEC7p5d9yRW2Du2TJYQEB7YMB/2ToOoN7aVNUnGyykxKAVjvMDcMGgSPM IR3+wUqzpAyH43tEwKBHStYj2jSlHimRXWi6lpvSwZ7rKsOtQoeSlnCJAJUDBRAu yWQXolOJuErpdjkBAaRSA/48+f7RqKXbsLJIEx8b0A0XuA/671B6L7PiC3BS5kMh QtIlRxFlgTLUp03D2TlbEyqoaJwwIjE71k3+V2rM712WGiDlQSRjtrU21/QDNzbZ C48r+pUBO7bLHe/16ED8tgsSONH+7DIdQGw6uN1v4aTiOk2HxgDHGa3RjEewbrfW 2w== =bZwx -----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK----- Michael D. Crawford crawford@scruznet.com <- Please note change of address. crawford@maxwell.ucsc.edu <- Finger me here for PGP Public Key.