The New York Police Department is installing 505 surveillance cameras around the city – and pushing to safeguard lower Manhattan with a “ring of steel” that could track hundreds of thousands of people and cars a day, says the New York Daily news. The cameras will keep watch over neighborhoods plagued by crime and monitor potential terror targets as the city moves to put another 1,200 cops on the street, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said.
The electronic eyes will be set up in 253 spots, including many Operation Impact zones – high-crime areas already targeted by teams of cops. The police department also is testing audio sensors that would allow the cameras to point in the direction of gunshots, sources said. The cameras will be put up in Brooklyn first before spreading to other boroughs. City Hall is paying for the cameras using $9.1million in homeland security funds. The NYPD also has applied for $81.5 million in federal aid to install surveillance cameras, computerized license plate readers and vehicle barriers around lower Manhattan.
Link: http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/401871p-340392c.html