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2005-09-16 J200 million contract awarded to helicopter firm.http://www.itvregions.com/news.php?
region=West&content=20521&cat=0£200 million contract awarded to helicopter firm.
The Yeovil helicopter firm AgustaWestland has been awarded a contract worth nearly £200 million from the Ministry of Defense.
The company will install a new night vision system for the Apache helicopter, enabling pilots to pick out targets even ... 
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2005-07-20 Helicopter rescues woman by light on cell phone using night visionhttp://www.kesq.com/
Global/story.asp?S=3387008WINDSOR, Calif. A lost hiker was rescued in Shiloh Park near Windsor late last night -- and she has her cell phone to thank.
After she lost her bearings, Kathy Karlen called the sheriff’s dispatcher asking for help. When the rescue helicopter approached her location after dark, they asked her point ...
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2005-07-20 Police invest in spies in the skieshttp://www.stltoday.com/Things are looking up for St. Louis police who will be looking down.
Happy with a test of elevated night vision video surveillance cameras during Mardi Gras, the department is investing grant money in nine cameras that can be moved among potential trouble spots as spies in the sky. Authorities expect ... |
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"I never think of the future, it comes soon enough." - A. Einstein
Police invest in spies in the skies
http://www.stltoday.com/ (2005-07-20)
Things are looking up for St. Louis police who will be looking down.
Happy with a test of elevated night vision video surveillance cameras during Mardi Gras, the department is investing grant money in nine cameras that can be moved among potential trouble spots as spies in the sky. Authorities expect to catch more criminals in the act.
Next use: Fair St. Louis on the riverfront, July 2-4.
"We can zoom in and zoom out and rotate the camera with a joystick," explained Lt. Col. Stephen Pollihan, the assistant chief of police. "We’re excited about them. They’ll give us another tool, one more dimension."
If a crime is captured on camera, the tape can not only help locate the culprit but convince the jury, Pollihan explained. "A photograph is great evidence in court."
The cameras can be mounted high on utility poles or buildings and can be moved easily, since the signals they send are wireless. Pictures can be monitored from a command post or even a vehicle.
Such cameras have long been used for institutional and industrial security. A civic organization made news a year ago by installing one camera, with plans for more, in Soulard, where it was to be manipulated and monitored over the Internet. But Pollihan said he knew of no other police department in the St. Louis area to put the devices to work.
St. Louis officials researched camera use in Chicago, New Orleans and Washington, he said.
"Everybody we talked to was very pleased," Pollihan said. "New Orleans is expanding their use. In Chicago, cameras are a $4 million investment."
The uses are as diverse as a police officers’ imagination. Monitoring large crowds is an obvious one. Others include hiding a camera where an undercover officer will be working.
Pollihan said he envisioned cameras watching special events downtown, the Washington Avenue club row, drug-infested areas and city parks. "Eventually, I’d like to see them out in the neighborhoods," he said.
"We tried them out during the Mardi Gras in Soulard and were very pleased," Pollihan said. "From our command van, we could see the behavior of crowds in a two-to-three block area.
"We could pinpoint disturbances and see immediately where police were needed."
The unobtrusive black cameras are squarish, about 18 inches across, and can blend in with transformers and other overhead equipment.
The Police Board approved their purchase last week from United Technologies for $100,000. They’re being finance through a federal grant, Pollihan said. Delivery is expected next month.
St. Louis bought cameras with night vision capabilities but not microphones. A few departments have installed audio equipment that can recognize the sound of gunfire and pinpoint its location.
New Orleans police Capt. Marlon Defillo said his department used about 25 cameras in high-crime areas. "The cameras have been credited with lowering crime," he said.
Some neighborhood leaders are so pleased with the cameras that fundraising efforts are being made to provide the police with more of them, Defillo noted
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/96E46860C578E3C98625700C001BB126?OpenDocument |
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