Surveillance cameras key to convention security efforts

Hundreds of surveillance cameras are eyeing people's every move at the Democratic National Convention at Boston's FleetCenter and throughout the city, helping law enforcement keep an eye on things, but also raising privacy concerns.

The Massachusetts State Police helicopters circling above the FleetCenter, for example, are equipped with both infrared and color cameras -- capable of zooming in on a person's face far below, night or day. Lt. Michael Barry, showcasing one of the police force's American Eurocopter Twin Star whirlybirds last week, said the airborne surveillance cameras, controlled by a tactical flight officer sitting next to the pilot, will beam images down to various command centers set up for the convention.

On the ground, the Boston police have set up cameras around the city to monitor convention-related activities. Superintendent Robert Dunford on Tuesday wouldn't say how many cameras have been put up, but the Boston Globe reported this month that there were 30. Dunford said that the new cameras have been tied into existing traffic cameras to help police monitor protest march routes and to close intersections as marchers go through.

Black-domed cameras also dot the hall ceilings in the FleetCenter and the outside walls of the O'Neill Federal Building next door, about a dozen of which are visible from ground level. The Federal Protective Service has 75 cameras stationed around Boston's federal buildings, including the O'Neill building and the JFK Federal Building on City Hall Plaza.

FPS officers can even take command of the cameras from handheld devices and monitor the images in the palms of their hands -- a useful tool if they're chasing someone around a corner and need to see what awaits them. The FPS cameras also send images to various command centers, including the Homeland Security Department's center in Washington.

At the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority command post in downtown Boston, subway personnel monitor 100 cameras mounted throughout the subway system. On a recent morning, black-and-white images from underneath Boston played across large screens on an elliptical wall in the MBTA center. A teenage boy pretended to walk up the down escalator to amuse himself, but otherwise, all was quiet.

The cameras are one small part of the massive security presence watching and waiting for criminal behavior -- or terrorist activity -- at the Democratic National Convention. Carol Rose, executive director of the Massachusetts American Civil Liberties Union, said that video cameras are part of a slippery slope of intrusive law enforcement tactics.

"It really illustrates the irony that a political convention is being used not to promote true democracy but instead to enhance the power of the state," she said.

Rose's group is monitoring the Boston Police Department's camera installation and is worried that the police plan to keep the cameras up after the convention leaves town.

At least one video camera, though, will actually be turned off this week. At The Rack, a nightclub hosting several parties for Democrats, owner Paul Barclay has turned off the "Live WebCam" in the corner. He figured that the bigwigs attending the events would rather not have their partying ways broadcast on the Internet for all the world to see.