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As Cache of New Haven, Conn., Public Cameras Grows, City Aims to Update Surveillance Policy

Recently, the city integrated all of its cameras into a system called Milestone, which most major cities are using to access and organize footage.

(TNS) - Sitting at her desk on the bottom floor of New Haven’s (Conn.,) records building, Maggie Targrove can see crisp-clear live footage of hundreds of city streets with just a few clicks of her computer mouse.

She can do the same with the touch of a finger on her smartphone.

“The technology for these cameras nowadays is just incredible,” Targrove said. “It’s so clear. It’s really come a long way since we started.”

Targove is the deputy director of administration at the New Haven Office of Emergency Management, where one of her roles is to oversee the city’s camera system. The city began installing cameras in 2000, and over the years, with the help of grant funding from various sources, there are now more than 200 cameras installed throughout neighborhoods and close to 4,000 in the schools for security.

It began with the Transportation Traffic & Parking Department, which installed cameras with a combination of city, state and federal funding. In 2010, New Haven was awarded a federal Tiger grant of $16 million for the Route 34 downtown crossing; cameras were included.

Recently, the city integrated all of its cameras into a system called Milestone, which Yale University, Hartford, Bridgeport, and most major cities are using to access and organize footage.

Milestone gives the user viewing control access to all cameras run by the city. Some can tilt, zoom-in, and pan. The cameras on a screen are organized in folders by multiple categories, such as location and department, depending on the user preference.

“Everything is right here,” Targove said. “It’s easy to use, easy to control everything, to access, and to share with other Milestone users.”

But with great power also comes great responsibility, so Targove will go before the Board of Alders on July 6 to propose an updated camera policy to ensure camera-use is uniform throughout the city and is not abused. It includes a policy on camera access, maintenance and installation, among other things.

According to the policy draft, cameras may be used in areas where they “enhance the protection of the public and there is no reasonable expectation of privacy,” recordings will be deleted within 15 days unless held for an ongoing case, police will have access to all cameras “for purposes of real time viewing.” Targove will also propose to the alders that public requests for video footage be subject to a fee. Proposed prices range from $75 for one to five minutes of footage, up to $300 for one to two hours.

“It’s important that we have policy on this because we want people to know that we are using these cameras for their safety and not to invade their privacy,” Targove said.

When the government-run camera technology was new in the city, and in places across the country, Targrove said, people were concerned with being spied on by government.

“There was a lot of that ‘Big Brother is watching you’ kind of thing going on,” she said. “But today, we’re seeing that people actually want them in their neighborhoods. They are even requesting that we install cameras in some areas and neighborhood management teams like at Dwight and the City Green have even purchased some for themselves.”

David McGuire, interim executive director at the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut, said government cameras are a topic the organization has been following very closely. He said the most important thing is for government to be transparent with the use of the cameras and to have clear policies in place.

“The danger in having these large systems, it makes it very easy to invade an innocent person’s privacy. It’s absolutely essential that the city really explain the need for this technology,” McGuire said. “You have to weigh the public safety benefits to public privacy.”

It’s also important for the public to understand the capabilities of the cameras.

In New Haven, the location of the cameras is determined by crime statistics. For example, the Westville section has fewer cameras than any other neighborhood, because of lower crime rates. Targove said the cameras work as a deterrent to potential criminals.

“These new cameras are not a blurry grainy picture like the ones we’re used to seeing. These camera are high powered. They have pan, tilt and zoom. People need to understand that, because it is in their neighborhood, in their community,” McGuire said.

The cameras here have traditionally been used by the Transportation Traffic & Parking Department to watch traffic patterns, by the Department of Parks, Recreation and Trees for park security, and by Public Works for inclement weather information. In recent years, Targove has been working with the Police and Fire departments to give the cameras yet another purpose.

“The goal really is public safety, to connect law enforcement so that they can better serve us,” Targrove said.

She and police Lt. Herbie Johnson teamed up to integrate the camera system into the Police Department so that officers can better use the technology. The Police and Fire departments have installed Milestone on their computers, and are moving forward with putting it in police vehicles and on officers’ smart phones.

“So far we’ve utilized a lot of the video during investigations. With video, sometimes it captures it, sometimes it misses it. But just having it there so we can check out, is a huge bonus,” Johnson said. “We’re getting it up and running, obviously when there’s any type of crime we need to use anything that can help us.”

Police use the footage to solve robberies, get information on traffic accidents, and to identify potential suspects and witnesses.

Police Chief Dean Esserman said they have become a vital part of every urban community across the country.

“I am very grateful to the hard work of our partners in city government. The school department, Yale University, our business improvement district, and Lt. Johnson of the Police Department for working so hard in a coordinated effort to further public safety in New Haven,” Esserman said.

The Fire Department also has used the technology to help solve cases of arson, Targove said.

Targove agrees that the community is an important piece when it comes to applying the cameras successfully in neighborhoods.

“I don’t think it can be done without the community involved. Really it’s the collaboration that gets it going, I can’t stress that enough,” she said.

When she thinks of the future of camera use in the city, Targove said she looks forward to integrating the technology into more places. One hope is to connect the program to the Police Department’s already growing Shotspotter gunfire detection technology.

“We’re trying to think as creatively as we can. We’re moving forward, and we’re moving fast. The mobile aspect of it is all being rolled out now so we’re getting there. It’s going to get better and better with time,” Targove said.

©2016 the New Haven Register (New Haven, Conn.) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.