New York – The NYPD wants business owners to help solve crime in one Harlem precinct by turning their security cameras to the street.
NYPD Precinct Cmdr. Rodney Harrison has asked local businesses to help the NYPD by turning their security cameras outward in an attempt to capture crime and assist police in capturing criminals. The program has been dubbed “Grid Search.”
The nascent project has already attracted glares from the New York Civil Liberties Union, which asked how cops could guarantee the footage wouldn’t be used to spy on residents without probable cause.
Officers started visiting shops two weeks ago, noting which owners had operable cameras and asking those who did to point their lenses outward.
Investigators also requested access to the recordings, in the event a drama unfolds within view.
“Most of our crime occurs outside,” Harrison said during a recent community meeting in which he detailed the strategy, which he called a city first.
“We are trying to get cooperation from businesses,” Harrison said, explaining that it’s an easy way for merchants to help catch the bad guys.
“Everyone has a camera,” Harrison said. “We want to make sure they work.”
New technology helps stores track your every move:
Consumer behavior online and off is being tracked aggressively with help from advances in technology.
And it can happen whether buyers are on their work computers, mobile devices or just standing in the grocery aisle. The data can be connected with other personal information like income, ZIP code and when a person’s car insurance expires.
Retailers say these techniques help customize shopping experiences and can lead to good deals for shoppers. Consumer advocates say aggressive tracking and profiling also opens the door to price discrimination, with companies charging someone more online or denying them entirely based on their home price or how often they visit a site.
“You can’t have Christmas any more without big data and marketers,” said Jeff Chester, executive director at the Center for Digital Democracy. “You know that song where Santa knows when you’ve been sleeping? He knows when you’re awake? Believe me, that’s where he’s getting his information from.”
Retailers like Target are now pushing their own mobile apps and offering in-store Wi-Fi. The mobile apps entice shoppers with coupon deals or ads as they move throughout a store, while in-store Wi-Fi is another way to track a consumer’s online movements.
To further lure buyers, major holiday retailers, including Macy’s, Best Buy and JCPenney, have partnered with the Shopkick mobile app. If shoppers turn on the app while in their store, they can be rewarded with discounts or song downloads for trying on clothes, scanning barcodes and making purchases.
Another app, Snapette, blends American’s addiction to social media sites with location technology. Aimed at women keen on fashion, consumers can see what accessories or shoes are creating a buzz in their particular neighborhood, while stores get a chance to entice nearby shoppers with ads or coupons.
Not all new technology tracking is voluntary. Stores have been experimenting with heat sensors and monitoring cellphone signals in their stores to see which aisles attract the most attention. One product called “Shopperception” uses the same motion-detection technology in the Xbox Kinect to track a customer’s movement, including whether they picked up a product only to return it to the shelf. In addition to analyzing customer behavior, it can trigger nearby digital signs offering coupons and steering shoppers to certain products.
The company contends that the technology is less intrusive than other tracking devices, including security cameras, because a person’s image is never stored and their movements only registered as a data point.
2 thoughts on “Police tell businesses to turn their security cameras toward streets and spy on citizens”
I plan to do all of my shopping now and in the future online. Not that I will not be tracked or what have you but at least I can shop in peace and not have someone watching me and sending me ads. With ad block connected with Mozilla I can block the ads and shop in peace. What I buy could not be of much interest to anyone since most of the time it is mundane stuff anyway.
I do buy some gifts but economical and affordable I refuse to charge anything. Debt is not my style. I rarely buy advertised products anyway and try to deal with mom and pop business every which way I can. Groceries is about the only thing I can not buy online for it is to expensive a way but Aldis is great and fairly near. I also frequent the farmers market a couple of blocks from me and the flea market also near.
Corporations make very little from me. Oh and I do not have or use a cell phone, not even the free on from Obama.
“NYPD Precinct Cmdr. Rodney Harrison has asked local businesses to help the NYPD by turning their security cameras outward in an attempt to capture crime and assist police in capturing criminals.”
Naturally, any footage that may show any cops perpetrating will be immediately confiscated (for review, and ”safekeeping’ purposes only).
MassPrivateI
I plan to do all of my shopping now and in the future online. Not that I will not be tracked or what have you but at least I can shop in peace and not have someone watching me and sending me ads. With ad block connected with Mozilla I can block the ads and shop in peace. What I buy could not be of much interest to anyone since most of the time it is mundane stuff anyway.
I do buy some gifts but economical and affordable I refuse to charge anything. Debt is not my style. I rarely buy advertised products anyway and try to deal with mom and pop business every which way I can. Groceries is about the only thing I can not buy online for it is to expensive a way but Aldis is great and fairly near. I also frequent the farmers market a couple of blocks from me and the flea market also near.
Corporations make very little from me. Oh and I do not have or use a cell phone, not even the free on from Obama.
“NYPD Precinct Cmdr. Rodney Harrison has asked local businesses to help the NYPD by turning their security cameras outward in an attempt to capture crime and assist police in capturing criminals.”
Naturally, any footage that may show any cops perpetrating will be immediately confiscated (for review, and ”safekeeping’ purposes only).