This hub, which also includes a Fusion Center
for the Department of Homeland Security, watches the live feeds of the Starlight Camera system.
It utilizes CommandCentral Aware by Motorola, which
provides software that analyzes the footage as it is captured.
As this video shows, the technology lets the police monitor social media posts,
and filter videos by colors (such as finding a red car) and objects (such as a backpack).
Furthermore, this
Dallas Morning News article states that the "[Starlight] system works by feeding into the department’s Fusion Center, an intelligence-gathering unit.
If there’s abrupt movement, such as people running or cars speeding off, the system sets off an alert to the center so someone can monitor the video."
Fusion Centers are notorious for monitoring activities and protests; leaked
documents showed they have also monitored
peaceful Juneteenth
celebrations and other cultural events.
Predictive Policing
Predictive policing aggregates crime data to try to predict what sections of the city will have more crime. Although proponents argue that data is unbiased and that this helps allocate resources more efficiently, it actually leads to overpolicing among communities of color.
As the Electronic Frontier Foundation writes, "But this technology will disproportionately hurt Black and other overpoliced communities, because the data was created by a criminal punishment system that is racially biased."
Furthermore, the EFF writes that "Predictive policing is a self-fulfilling prophecy. If police focus their efforts in one neighborhood and arrest dozens of people there during the span of a week, the data will reflect that area as a hotbed of criminal activity."
--Dallas PD: At the start of 2020, Dallas police unveiled their plan to use predictive policing. Specifically, Chief Renee Hall stated that areas designated as higher crime by the computer models would have more traffic stops. The Week
reports that "black people are more likely to be pulled over for traffic violations, and more likely to be searched when they're stopped." Dallas predictive policing would only exacerbate the problem. PDF of official plan can be found here.
--Arlington PD: The attached report details the predictive policing trial used in Arlington; however, it is unclear if it has continued to be used. Similar to Dallas, the initiative mapped "hot spots" and increased patrols and surveillance in those areas. Furthermore, in conjunction with several departments in the police force, as well as the U.S. Marshalls and ATF, the police department concentrated on mapping robbery hot spots. The report states that "the APD used saturation patrols and covert units for surveillance. It also used rapid warrant service, which meant when a unit cut a warrant for a known offender, the OSN group would serve it immediately."
Surveillance Analytics
This involves any form of algorithms used to analyze data, especially surveillance footage. While security camera footage may not seem
dangerous due to the amount of raw footage needed to be scanned, these algorithms allow searching through the data in a matter of seconds.
They can analyze footage based on objects on the screen, or even based on the color of items such as cars. BriefCam, used by the Arlington Police Department,
states that they can analyze video based on a variety of factors, including license plates, facial recognition, age, and gender. Furthermore, live alerts can trigger when certain factors or people are detected.
--Arlington: Uses BriefCam for video analytics in investigations. However, the attached document also says it can work in conjunction with the Miletsone video management system. More research needed on what that exactly means.
