Is a Spy Tower Coming to a Parking Lot Near You?
Woodbridge is one of the towns in Middlesex County who signed on for the use of SkyWatch, a manned two-story mobile surveillance unit that's keeping its eye on you.
SkyWatch. It sounds like something out of a Terminator movie.
The manufacturer of SkyWatch - manned mobile surveillance towers with cabs that can rise up to two stories in height - says they're the latest in safety gear for municipalities in a post-9/11 world.
They've caught the eye of observers who see them as sinister, a symptom of an Orwellian 'Big Brother' mentality in which no one is safe from being spied upon, no matter where they are.
SkyWatch is a piece of machinery the nay-sayers could live without.
Last week Woodbridge was one of multiple towns inside Middlesex County who signed on for permission to borrow a SkyWatch surveillance tower recently purchased through the Prosecutor's Office with a Homeland Security grant.
Plainboro, Spotswood, Cranbury, Middlesex Boro and Woodbridge are just some of the municipalities who signed up for or are considering their turn at SkyWatch should the need arise.
What is the need, though?
"It's an elevated platform on a scissors jack. It's used for parades, to monitor the crowd, for crowd control and surveillance," said Jim O'Neill, spokesman for the Prosecutor's Office.
"For some situations, it gives more than a street level view."
The $134,000 mobile security tower comes equipped with loudspeakers, high intensity lighting for night work, security cameras, and blackout windows - where the officers inside the air-conditioned and heated space can see you, but you can't see them.
"Vantage point is everything when it comes to surveillance," said FLIR, the manufacturer of SkyWatch, in its literature.
The surveillance towers are adaptable for more than one officer. There is a range of add-ons that can increase its usefulness, depending upon the goal. Exterior cameras and DVRs can record, there are computer jacks inside the cab for laptops, and - for the truly paranoid - a camera for underneath the cab, in case authorities fear someone might try to climb up the hydraulic scissor jack.
Among the uses FLIR touts for SkyWatch are border patrol, disaster response, crowd management, emergency responses, and the protection of VIPs and dignitaries. In some southern towns, it's used for more prosaic purposes, like monitoring auto theft in parking lots.
The Middlesex County SkyWatch unit, though, hasn't been used. O'Neill said he wasn't even sure if the county has received it yet.
The towns that signed the agreement will be able to use the unit if they want it, O'Neill said: "They're responsible for it while they have it."
slyfox1961
8:02 am on Tuesday, May 1, 2012
The authorities should consider deploying (or requiring) these units in all of the mall parking lots, especially Woodbridge Mall. It would make the lots that much safer. I do not subscribe to the "big brother" paranoia. If you have nothing to hide, you should not fear being monitored in public. The "big brother" paranoia crowd is only making it easier for the criminals to operate by creating a "veil of privacy protections." If you want privacy, stay home. When you venture into the public domain, your expectation of privacy vanishes, and you may be monitored in parking lots. Simple.
Tamara Winfrey
11:59 am on Tuesday, May 1, 2012
This kind of stuff is just a stepping stone for them putting monitoring devices in our cars and homes "for our own good." Google Earth has already begun the process with photos of our houses. There is no such thing as privacy anywhere.
BobDee
9:29 am on Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Are you American? Surveilling parking lots is the responsiblity of the landlord or tenant(ie;Sears) not tax payers! I don't mind being surveilled in parking lots, I just don't want to and should not have to pay for it!
BobDee
10:01 am on Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Food for thought...In the early 30's before the final solution was put into play, Adolf Hitler told the jews of Germany to get out, those with the means and the money left, those who stayed proclaimed, "we are simple shopkeeps,we do nothing wrong,we have nothing to hide" They were all dead by 1939. If innocent people have nothing to hide then why do the police protest so strongly against you video taping them? Wouldn't be that "veil of privacy protections" would it?
Tom Maras
10:27 am on Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Hey Jon,( as in, perhaps, Corzine, or is it now George, ,as in Orwel? So hard to tell who/what you are hiding in your foxhole; maybe the sky spy tower will reveal you to all.
Anyway, by now everyone knows you love to spend taxpayer money, so why not spend some more on something to ensure the masses are aware their days of freedom are ending.
The following link will take you to what must be one of your favorite novels, if not your bible!
http://www.online-literature.com/orwell/1984/
“1984 is possibly the definitive dystopian novel, set in a world beyond our imagining. A world where totalitarianism really is total, all power split into three roughly equal groups--Eastasia, Eurasia, and Oceania. 1984 is set in Oceania, which includes the United Kingdom, where the story is set, known as Airstrip One.
Winston Smith is a middle-aged, unhealthy character, based loosely on Orwell's own frail body, an underling of the ruling oligarchy, The Party. The Party has taken early 20th century totalitarianism to new depths, with each person subjected to 24 hour surveillance, where people's very thoughts are controlled to ensure purity of the oligarchical system in place. Figurehead of the system is the omnipresent and omnipotent Big Brother”.
BobDee
10:46 am on Wednesday, May 2, 2012
A good book to read on the topic is "They Thought They Were Free,The Germans, 1933-45" by Milton Mayer 1955.
Tom Maras
8:11 am on Tuesday, May 1, 2012
What crowds are they planning to control? Where in Woodbridge, for example, would the tower be deployed? The new mini-golf course, to catch cheaters. The Mall? If so, which side? Wouldn’t the thieves just go to the areas where the tower could not see them? Wouldn’t stealthy airborne drones cover more areas, while not standing out in the crowd!
The Tower does have its uses, in certain settings. But around here, it may be as useful as a Snow Dragon!
sheila
10:47 am on Tuesday, May 1, 2012
We moved to Woodbridge 24 years ago. We stayed in Woodbridge because we felt it was a safe and wonderful town to raise our children. Im tired of hearing complaints over everything our town does for us. Thank you Woodbridge for being aware of our changing world, and continuing to keep us safe.
7 out
11:00 am on Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Who watches the Watchmen?
BobDee
10:14 am on Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Good question 7 out...
slyfox1961
1:22 pm on Tuesday, May 1, 2012
@Tamara: I would hardly consider an aerial photo of the exterior of my house an invasion of privacy. As for your coment about monitoring devices insides ones home for "your own good", that is a major difference from putting video survalance in parking lots for the good of the general public. Cameras monitoring the masses in public is very much different than cameras monitoring the individual in ones home. The latter will never happen. The former has been utilized in England for many years now with positive results, and is used in many areas of many large US cities.
Tamara Winfrey
1:37 pm on Tuesday, May 1, 2012
This will escalate from surveillance in public place to cameras in homes, because the government will push it as far as they can. Also, last I checked this is America not England.
Tamara Winfrey
2:11 pm on Tuesday, May 1, 2012
I don't understand how you're fine with government surveillance, but when you thought your real name might be revealed on the Star Ledger message boards or on Patch, you were flipping out. What do YOU have to hide?
Can't shut me up
2:55 pm on Tuesday, May 1, 2012
What a waste of taxpayers money!!!
BobDee
10:13 am on Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Agreed.....
slyfox1961
3:05 pm on Tuesday, May 1, 2012
@Tamara: I cited the usage of LAW ENFORCEMENT cameras in England as an example of positive reduction of crime. How do you attempt to spin that into me saying this is England? What point are you attempting to make? Do you really think US citizens will allow cameras in our homes? To what end? Really? No, really? Quite a jump from parking lot surveillance to cameras in our bedrooms. Wow.
Tamara Winfrey
3:56 pm on Tuesday, May 1, 2012
So we're supposed to do stuff over here just because they do it in England? I don't think it's a jump from parking lots to our homes at all. After all, if you have nothing to hide, you won't object to having government cameras in your home, will you?
slyfox1961
3:13 pm on Tuesday, May 1, 2012
@Tamara: I am fine with the law using surveillance, why wouldn't I be? It is necessary for them to protect me when I board a plane or go to a public event. I could care less if they date mine and monitor my phone calls for key words, or watch me on a CC TV screen walking to my car at the mall. As for my revealing my identity on message boards, the last time I checked posting my true name is entirely up to me. My "flipping out" concerned the illegal release of my name to a citizen Tom who happens to be to nosy for his own good. If the government wants to know who I am, they have legal means to find out, of which I have no objection. I often post under my real name when I choose to. What makes you think I have something to hide? Am I the only poster who uses a screen name?
Tamara Winfrey
4:00 pm on Tuesday, May 1, 2012
What you describe is really not that far off from in home surveillance. They'll start off by saying it's a service for the disabled & the elderly, then it will progress to everyone having cameras in their homes. They'll say it's for our own protection, and we won't object at all because we have nothing to hide. And the TSA is doing SUCH an outstanding job already!
If you really didn't care, you wouldn't use a screen name. But you DO care.
BobDee
12:08 pm on Wednesday, May 2, 2012
The Supreme Court has ruled that it is not the job of police to "protect" anyone. Police collect evidence to present for prosecution, Regulate traffic and enforce ordinances and laws etc etc...
slyfox1961
6:27 pm on Tuesday, May 1, 2012
@Tamara: there is a BIG difference between our rights in the home and our rights in the public domain.The fact that you don't seem to understand that the constitution prevents them from installing cameras in our homes, and aside from the fact that it would be unaffordable to maintain such an infrastructure, makes this debate far fetched, childish and pointless. As for my choice to not publish my name, it is just that. My choice. What's it to you? Why do you care so much? Does it matter?
BobDee
1:31 pm on Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Always remember the ole saying..."The road to hell is paved with good intentions."
BobDee
1:01 pm on Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Britian has gone into private homes with CCTV via the recycle bin, in an effort to curtail co-mingling and has now moved to childrens room's, you know, to make sure the kids are doing their homework, going to bed early and eating their vegetables.
P.S. I believe your rights are your right's no matter where you go. Believing that "there is a BIG difference between our rights in the home and our rights in the public domain" has lead to such things as "no free speech zones."