ANIMAL » SkyWatch

SkyWatch Peers Over Car-Free Times Square

Bucky Turco — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 15:59:21 +0000

As more and more people descend on Times Square to enjoy the newly created pedestrian spaces and temporary cheap furniture, it was inevitable that the NYPD would dispatch one of their citizen-surveilling towers. This SkyWatch turret was posted up on Broadway and 47th Street to keep a intrusively observant eye over tourists and transient New Yorkers alike.

Photo by ANIMALnewyork

Special SkyWatch Surveilling Williamsburg Bridge

ANIMAL — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 21:57:31 +0000

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.

SkyWatch In Times Square Has Fatal Flaw

ANIMAL — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 19:17:25 +0000

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.

Staring Down SkyWatch

ANIMAL — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 23:14:34 +0000

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.

Centurion, SkyWatch, Cerberus
For those law enforcement and military types that require something a little more rugged, here’s the SkyWatch ‘Frontier‘ model. It comes in a standard beige color but offers more add-ons and with it’s higher capacity generator, it’s better suited for longer deployments. Unlike its wussy Sentinel counterpart, this one comes with a ballistics option that not only includes run flat tires, but a thicker outer skin that can repel small arms and most importantly: gun ports! And you can never have enough guns. That’s why ICx also designed this semi-automated heavy gun tower they dub the Centurion (pictured above left). The “unique mobile weapons station” can be fired from a remote locations and has the options to be fitted with a whole slew of weapons: M2HB .50 cal machine gun, MK-19 40 mm grenade launcher, Javelin missile, XM307 (new .50 cal machine gun), or a M240 7.62 mm machine gun. It was also created to work in conjunction with SkyWatch.

*The Centurion ( a remote operated machine gun platform) Ceberus (mobile radar/sensor tower), and SkyWatch are all compatible and designed to work as an integrated system.
The company is headed by this scary guy—he makes like $450K a year and reported some record profits last quarter. However, the company is deep in the red, but with ICx already opening up new markets in the Middle East, not to mention SkyWatch being billed as an essential tool for both the “front lines or hometown events”—effectively putting a country’s citizenry and foreign enemies on the same footing—they should be moving towards the black in no time. It also helps that the CEO—like the Republicans at their convention—isn’t afraid to drum up support by invoking the attacks on the World Trade Center. “We believe that we’re doing something good for the country and we hope that we’re doing our share to make sure that 9/11 doesn’t happen again.”

SkyWatch Retreats Out of Williamsburg

ANIMAL — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 21:21:45 +0000

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.