It seems DC is now paying a team of officers to sit and watch CCTV all day. What channel? You. The Washington Post tells us:
[F]or about 40 hours a week, a small team of officers in the department’s Joint Operations Command Center watches the live feeds from 10 to 15 of the cameras. They choose locations based on the latest crime trends — focusing, for example, on areas in Southeast Washington beset by gun violence.
[ . . . ]
The District’s cameras have quite a range, officials said. Officers can rotate angles for different views. They can zoom in on faces of potential suspects and pick up license plate numbers from cars several blocks away.
Forgive my reluctance to believe that the DC Police Department will actually achieve anything more than gawking at hookers walking down the street with this new measure. Remember, this is the place where guys like this get promoted to captain. But wait, there’s more:
London is often credited with having the most extensive network — 500,000 cameras that make up the “Ring of Steel,” dating to the early 1990s. “I’d love to have the whole city wired like London,” said Lanier, adding that she didn’t anticipate that becoming a reality.
Coming soon to a budget markup committee meeting near you. Bet on it.