Electronic surveiilance

The Fragmented Surveillance State

In Chicago, every person arrested over the past four years has received an algorithmically generated “threat” score (from 1-500) to determine his or her risk of being a perpetrator or victim of a future crime. Those individuals with the highest scores on the Chicago Police Department “heat list” get extra attention in the form of home visits or increased community surveillance.

In Baltimore, for months Cessna planes equipped with wide-angle video cameras capable of filming entire segments of the city flew overhead. A private security company—Persistent Surveillance Systems—connected its aerial video with ongoing police reports and handed the footage over to the Baltimore Police Department to assist in investigating past crimes. Using the surveillance video, one could literally map the comings and goings of everyone—criminals and innocents alike. The only problem was that no one had informed the Baltimore City Council or the mayor of this arrangement.