The menacing, elevated surveillance platform known as SkyWatch is back! The Orwellian contraption was deployed by the NYPD last night at S 4th St. and Roebling St., near an entrance to the Williamsburg Bridge. It was strategically placed in that location to not only watch the people, but the vehicles headed to Manhattan also. Unlike the other SkyWatch systems, this one is specially fitted with a license plate scanner that can provide real time information on drivers, according to an officer on the scene. Apparently the NYPD is moving ahead with their potentially civil rights abusing Operation Sentinel way ahead of schedule.
While many of the NYPD’s SkyWatch systems utilize self-contained generators for power, others, like this one in Times Square, draws its electricity from NYC streetlights making it particularly vulnerable to sabotage. One snip of the extension cord and this people peeping platform can be incapacitated rather easily. Click below for close-up photos of the highly susceptible surveillance mechanism and the unsuspecting watcher being watched.
As the ominous mobile surveillance system known as SkyWatch continues to invade the city’s neighborhoods, we decided to take a closer look at both the privacy invading people watcher and the company responsible for it. ICx Technologies (Nasdaq GS:ICXT) is a weapons manufacturer enabler and SkyWatch is just one item in its stable of military products* rebranded for law enforcement purposes. Most police departments—the NYPD included—utlizie the ‘Sentinel‘ version. According to the brochure, it’s perfect for any occasion, “from a prisoner working party to disaster response,” but also recommended for “crowd control, long range surveillance, and “VIP/Dignitary protection.” The unit weighs 6600 lbs., comes with a 5.5 KW gas generator that can for about 24 hours, sports an impressive set up time of “less than 10 minutes,” and costs about $100K a pop.
Ever vigilant, the New York Civil Liberties Union is demanding that the NYPD disclose more information about “Operation Sentinel,” an intrusive system of surveillance that will document and store information on every vehicle coming in and out of the city: “In a lawsuit filed Monday in state Supreme Court, the NYCLU claimed the New York Police Department has moved forward with the plan expected to cost tens of millions of dollars without explaining how it will use and store images and data captured by the closed-circuit cameras, license-plate readers and other high-tech security devices.” |AP via Newsday|
As promised by a beat cop last month, the people peeping SkyWatch tower has been removed from Graham Avenue. The 20 foot retractable perch originally designed for spotting illegal aliens has become an increasingly common fixture in the NYPD’s surveillance arsenal and was deployed in early August to supposedly help reduce a recent string of robberies. But now with the summer letting up, Williamsburg must be safe again.
The NYPD continues their paramilitary people watching experiment, this time introducing the mostly good people of Ridgewood, Queens to SkyWatch, a mobile surveillance platform. It’s located on Cypress Avevenue between Putnam and Myrtle, a stone’s throw from Bushwick. Like it’s sister unit in Williamsburg, it’s been deployed for a little over a month now and although NYPD brass might hail this as an effective tool for intimidation law enforcement, the actual police manning them aren’t so hot on the two-story tower. For one, it kind of prevents them from doing their jobs. “We’re not allowed to leave it, unless a cop is in trouble,” explained one of the officers guarding the base of the moveable tower, “but then what are we supposed to do then? Run to the scene?” Each SkyWatch requires a two man team: one to sit up in the tower, the other standing guarding below, effectively leaving two officers in fixed positions without any transportation besides a three wheeled scooter. “We could do a better job in a car any day,” added the other cop as he climbed in the cab and began his ascent. More photos of the elevated lookout below.
Leave it up to the free paper to break the real news: there’s lots of surveillance cameras in the city and even more to come. That’s almost as groundbreaking as reporting that cops drive around in yellow cabs. Even more irksome is this often repeated, constitutional shredding sentiment: “Unless you’re doing something wrong, you shouldn’t worry.” |amNY|
Regarding the NYPD’s plan to turn 1984 into a reality: “This is more like being under communist reign, instead of being in a free country and being able to choose where you want to go, when you want to go, and not be monitored at all times,” said a NYC man interviewed by the BBC. “I don’t think it’s right.” |RawStory|
Last October, the NYPD announced its “Ring of Steel” security plan for the new WTC site—should it ever be built—that included more than 100 high tech surveillance cameras with license plate readers that would be placed in and around the Financial District. One of the cameras was even installed on Duane St. and Church by defense contractor Northrop Grumman. But now the “Ring of Steel” rhetoric has been severed, the new buzzword is: “Operation Sentinel.” And rightfully so, with news that the notorious civil rights abusing police force has dramatically stepped up its plans for surveilling the mostly, non-terrorist populace of NYC and now wants to scan ever single vehicle coming in and out of Manhattan—expect some Sky Watch towers like these too. Not surprisingly the ACLU ain’t having it and decided to take action. But the NYPD is already arguing that these increased measures are necessary for securing the Freedom Tower and making everyone feel safe. Right! And these would help prevent two hijacked airliners from crashing into buildings how? |NYT|
A retractable 20-foot-tall watchtower originally designed to help with border protection and then adapted for use during parades in NYC, is now increasingly making its way into various neighborhoods like Crown Heights, Harlem, and even into a relatively low crime area in DUMBO back in March. Now, a new Sky Watch has popped up on Graham Avenue and Moore Street in the Bushwickish section of Williamsburg to keep a watchful eye on criminals and law abiders alike. According to one of the flatfoots on the ground, there’s been a recent rash of robberies in the area and it will be a permanent fixture throughout the summer. More photos of the Orwellian surveillance platform parked on the Avenue of Puerto Rico below.
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