'Ring of protection' on Minnesota cities' radar

Don't look up. You may be "live" on one of the 30,000 government surveillance cameras that security experts estimate to be mounted in the greater Twin Cities.

Not so slowly, but surely, metro cities and some government agencies are installing video technology capable of networking surveillance systems in a so-called ring of protection — and detection.

Some 25 metro area municipalities and two state agencies have deployed video surveillance systems that stream thousands of cameras watching city halls, municipal liquor stores, government buildings, transit hubs, police stations, highways and intersections.

Cities primarily use surveillance video to protect government property, prevent crime and prosecute offenders. The suburb of Brooklyn Center monitors 189 surveillance cameras trained on schools, a community center, a golf course and other city-operated facilities.

"We are trying to get video of who may be at the door entrances and exits in that perimeter around your building, and then some key locations inside the building, depending upon what the nature of our business unit is there," said Patty Hartwig, information technology director for Brooklyn Center.

A Minneapolis security convergence company called Pro-Tec Design has incorporated standardized software (Milestone) that gives cities and agencies the option of someday taking the next step, sharing surveillance video between communities and other levels of government.

"That fictitious wiring, where you can all of a sudden flip the switch, and suddenly everybody's sharing everybody's video, we're still far away from getting that stuff ready. But, at least from the conversational level and actual software level, we're well down that path," said Tim Ferrian, director of sales and marketing for Pro-Tec Design.

The chaotic I-35W bridge collapse and 2008 Republican National Convention protests led to a recognition that broader security camera video coverage could speed up emergency response times, cut through confusion and save lives.

There's no central operations center to monitor and share video footage between cities and agencies in real time. But the Minnesota Department of Transportation traffic management center uses the same technology to share video footage from hundreds of highway cameras with cities on an as-needed basis.

The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development uses the security software, but is not connected to other agencies or local governments.

"We're having to go basically, city to city, to try to promote the story and the philosophy to get a movement going," said Ferrian. "Each individual city can decide if they want to do this. Then it's our job to help them form relationships and connections with each other and neighboring cities."

At the same time, some civil libertarians question whether the "ring of protection" includes watching out for privacy rights.

"The technology is moving fast and city councils and public bodies, they're not asking the questions," said Rich Neumeister, a citizen watchdog who blogs at Open Secrets. "The questions are, what are we doing with this? Is it focused? What technology is it? Any kind of facial recognition? It all comes down to who's watching the watchers. The typical old question."

"Every organization needs to review their circumstances and determine the security solution that best meets their needs. We look for an appropriate balance between a person's right to privacy and having the tools and information to keep the public safe," said Vickie Schleuning, Brooklyn Center's assistant city manager.

Over the past three years, Brooklyn Center has spent $490,000 upgrading its cameras and security surveillance network. City authorities increasingly view video as an indispensable tool.

"Juries, judges prosecutors, they want video and they almost expect video," said Cmdr. Brian Peters of the Brooklyn Center Police Department. "We've made a very large investment into technology, which in my opinion is a huge benefit, not only to the department but officers."

The city discards most video files after 30 days. Footage from cash register cameras tied into point-of-sale software at two municipal liquor stores remains on the city server for 60 days to allow time for credit card transactions to clear. The video surveillance recently helped identify alleged credit card fraud in a case that involved several other cities.

"If we need to quickly reference a credit card or credit card theft, we can quickly make reference to that transaction in the video," said Hartwig, Brooklyn Center's IT expert. "So it's easy for us to track and provide that information to officials, so they can proceed further with their investigation."

As more cities upgrade their video surveillance, the system's architect focuses on the bigger picture — an integrated network connecting the Twin Cities.

"We're not going just on the city, but also on the county and state levels. We're trying to connect them all," Ferrian said.

Tom Steward covers government waste, spending and policy issues in Minnesota for Watchdog.org, a project of the Franklin Center for Government & Public Integrity, a nonprofit organization that promotes a well-informed electorate and a more transparent government.