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November 9, 2011 By Brian Heaton
Police in Lancaster, Calif., will be taking to the sky to help keep the city and its residents safer.
The Lancaster City Council approved on Tuesday evening, Nov. 8, a proposal to add an aerial law enforcement surveillance system to its crime fighting toolbox. Called the Law Enforcement Aerial Platform System (LEAPS), the video technology sits on a small plane and can follow a suspect or target from 1,000 to 3,000 feet above the ground.
Created by Aero View and developed by Spiral Technology, LEAPS uses both visible and infrared imagery for tracking. City officials said that at the closest level of surveillance, its new “eye in the sky” can identify the color of a person’s clothing, but facial details and license plate numbers will not be visible.
In an e-mail to Government Technology, Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris touted the crime-stopping and prevention advantages that aerial coverage will provide the city.
“Everyone knows you see more from above, cover a wider range of observance and are capable of more accurate pursuit with an aerial unit,” he said. The real-time value of LEAPS, Parris said, will be the ability to provide ground patrol units information on criminals’ movements.
Lancaster is joining a growing number of U.S. cities — big and small — whose law enforcement is taking to the skies with blimps, drones and other flying craft for crime-fighting purposes.
This isn’t the first time Lancaster has attempted to add aerial coverage to its law enforcement arsenal. According to the Los Angeles Times, two years ago a similar program with another vendor was shut down after residents and privacy advocates raised “Big Brother” concerns regarding the technology.
The Lancaster Sheriff’s Station will have full control over the new system, including the data recorded, which will be encrypted and transmitted directly to the Sheriff’s Station without being viewed by the surveillance plane’s pilot or the city. The recorded footage will not be stored in the aircraft, according to a statement by the city.
Privacy Concerns
Despite the security measures the city said it would take to keep the video footage accessible only to the sheriff’s office, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Southern California had a number of unanswered questions about the program.
Peter Bibring, senior staff attorney for the ACLU of Southern California, said privacy issues remain a “huge concern” and the organization sent a public records request on Monday, Nov. 7, to Lancaster and Los Angeles County for the details behind the aerial surveillance program.
“People who have done nothing wrong shouldn’t have the details of everything they do in their yards and homes open to video surveillance from the skies,” Bibring said. “This kind of sophisticated aerial technology poses a significant risk to the privacy of the residents of Lancaster, and it’s also unclear why it’s a better crime-fighting tool than less invasive and less expensive options the police already use.”
Bibring went on to say that while the California Public Records Act exempts law enforcement investigation materials from disclosure if the program’s video footage is random daily surveillance. It’s unclear whether such random footage will also be exempt from public records requests.
“The fact that [the video footage] is going directly to law enforcement doesn’t necessarily mean it can’t be shared with other agencies,” Bibring added. “The program raises all sorts of questions.”
Parris disagreed with Bibring’s assessment of the situation. Parris said the public can’t request data from the city if the city doesn’t have any access to the data. So in this case — since the Lancaster Sheriff’s Station will control the data — there shouldn’t be any California Public Records Act issues when it comes to the availability of the video footage.
Additionally the Lancaster mayor maintained that while the video is surveillance data, it will be treated as evidential and, therefore, protected.
“City personnel and non-parties to a criminal case do not have any rights or privileges for accessing the data transmitted by LEAPS to the Sheriff’s archives,” Parris explained.
Financial Details
As per the agreement between Lancaster and Aero View, the vendor would operate the plane and provide approximately 10 hours of aerial surveillance per day, at times determined by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Lancaster will pay Aero View $89,991 per month for the service. The plane and LEAPS will be housed at Fox Field in Lancaster.
The equipment — plane included — would be bought by the city at a one-time cost of $1.3 million. The program will also not require any operation funding in fiscal year 2011-2012, as the first 12 months of using LEAPS will be at no cost as part of the Acquisition and Management Agreement between Lancaster and Aero View.
According to the agreement, the first LEAPS model will be deployed in the city by spring 2012.
Editor's note: This article has been updated.
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"to help keep the city and its residents safer." So this now the is the comedy channel? Why not just have a drone fly 24/7 with the IR and "presonnel" sized hellfire - that too would make them safer. Our County Office (Public Health) worries if we have enough paper for the copy machine, let alone $1.3 million laying around plus the $90K annual.
Hmmm, I think I've already seen this in the movies. Can you say RoboCop and Blue Thunder? What's next? I bet that plane doesn't stay in one piece on the ground for very long. As soon as it is used to bust a gang, it will be a target.
Let's see, 1000 feet. Unless the gang has a fully auto .50 cal. machine gun with tracers, I doubt they could hit it in the air. Any city that would not keep the ground location highly secure deserves to lose its investment! Of course, if it was a big enough drug bust, the cartels would supply the gang with SAMs. Game over if that happens.
The article is incorrect in that the $89,991 is a month not year. $297/hr 10 hours a day 365 days a year..
Price tag is 90k per month. From the agreement: Commencing on first day of the calendar month which is 12 months following the Operation Date, the City shall pay to Aero View the sum of $89,991. Such amount shall be paid monthly in advance. In the event that Aero View is required to provide more than 333 hours of surveillance in any calendar month, the amount payable for the next month only shall be increased by an amount equal to the number of hours over 333 multiplied by $297. In the event that Aero View provides less than 273 hours of surveillance in any calendar month, the amount payable for the next calendar month only shall be reduced by an amount equal to the number of hours under 273 multiplied by $297.
Hummm. For that amount of money, I'd want to see faces and license plate numbers. For that amount of money, they could acquire an APV, but they might have to pay more for the encryption software if it required a heavier computer.
Yet another "gem" in a long list of crazy ideas from a bizzarre mayor. You should see the kind of weird stuff that goes on in our town. I am looking hard to move out.
Oh my... once they legalize/decriminalize the herb, will law enforcement still be so 'gung ho' on spying on all of the private citizens? Methinks... yes. Now what exactly is it they are trying to find/stop/control... besides everything?! Little by little the public is rolling over and letting their rights be stepped on. Shameful! Canada, here I come...
Once again we have allow this mayor to peek into our windows even more closely! I have nothing to hide, I will leave my door and blinds open with a welcome mat with his name on it! Without privacy there is no freedom
I am so glad I do not live in Lancaster, that mayor Raymond Parris is a Wacko! It is as if his authoritarian ideals (similar to Hitler’s) go unnoticed by the majority of the population in that city. I just do not understand why the people are not out there in front of City Hall DEMANDING his resignation or some kind of recall...? 0_o I mean that is just a LOT of money for such a small city to be spending on something that is clearly unconstitutional and now they may have to go to court over it (he seems to get the city pulled into court a lot) so that is going to cost even MORE! No wonder fake DUI check points are set up all over Lancaster, they never seem to catch any drunk people, but they sure do rake in a LOT of cars for their impound lots and issue a LOT of tickets... This is just another example of republican corruption. Time to elect new leaders people! Not carrier politicians and fear mongers and such, but normal people, like teachers and nurses and librarians! This kind of thuggish behavior must be abated or we are going to be living in a very ugly time. There is no doubt that this tool will be misused and that people in the area will suffer needlessly due to their overreaching mayor. Again, all I can say on a positive note is 'WOW, I am SO glad I do NOT live in Lancaster, CA'! <3
"...let alone $1.3 million laying around plus the $90K annual." Check that Michael, $90k MONTHLY. I would say this is too expensive for Lancaster to afford. Let's lay-off more teachers from our already underfunded schools to pay $90k for a drone up 300 hours a month. That's roughly $300 an hour.
I think the most astounding part of the article is the fact that the new system will be deployed so quickly. Approved Nov 8th, deployed spring 2012. He can't move too fast on education funding, but to be able to have an eye on the population he can't move quick enough.