Oklahoma town provides real-time streaming from cop cars, free WiFi to residents
Traffic wardens over in the UK have been wielding handheld camcorders for well over a year now, but Ponca City, Oklahoma is making waves here in America with a slightly more sophisticated alternative. In conjunction with Honeywell, the town is implementing a broadband mesh network comprised of over 490 wireless nodes and gateways from Tropos Networks, and aside from providing free WiFi to some 30 square miles of residents, it's also hoping to use the abundant connectivity to help public safety. For instance, the city has installed wireless video cameras in police vehicles so "dispatchers and supervisors can monitor activities during traffic stops, and quickly deploy additional officers and resources if necessary." 'Course, that's just the official word -- everyone and their mother knows this is just the beginning of "C.O.P.S.: Live in Oklahoma."
[Via Slashdot, image courtesy of CanMag]
[Via Slashdot, image courtesy of CanMag]























I'm hoping they'd disable them during something important...like perhaps a hostage situation. I think if the captor(s) were to have twenty angles of the front of the building it would really work in their favor. They'd just need a laptop, the WiFi everywhere doesn't help either. I think this network would be better off encrypted.
For all the fuckups any government may have, I would like to credit them with some modicum of common sense, thereby preventing such issues!
The network is encrypted. http://www.myponcacity.com/cms/City-Government/wifi/wifisecure.aspx
id watch it :D
Actually, I bet it would be one of the most boring shows ever. Not much happens in the usual run of the mill traffic stop.
image courtesy of bad photojournalism
It's actually from an episode of Cops. They threw a bag of crack and weed out the window and they were being pulled over.
Seriously, I don't watch a lot of Cops...... ;-)
Token black person getting nicked there!
lol
LOL. So true.
Anyhow, I think most people failed to read the article. The live video will only stream to "dispatchers and supervisors," not to the intarwebs.
Via WiFi? That seems secure.
It's Ponca City, Oklahoma. The poor cop has probably never actually seen a black person before...
You've obviously never been to Ponca City before. That poor black man has probably never seen a white person before.
actually that would be boring ... watching a cop give about 20 speeding tickets :P
GO UBN2 GO!!
What?
Believe it or not not all of us in Oklahoma have cows and ride horses :)
...but lots of you still do.
The majority of the population has never lived or worked on a farm, but most of the real-estate in the state is still farm land.
Go figure.
I get really tired of people hating on Oklahoma. I love this place... all we really need now is some decent internet.
I live in a teepee.
We need Democrats too. Desperately. I'm tired of getting sneers for my Obama bracelet.
Democrats like living on the coasts for the available recreation. I have at least 5 amusement parks within 2 hours drive as well as 2 beaches and Atlantic City. Out in Oklahoma the only thing to do for fun is play the terrorism drinking game with Fox News.
That's just plain ign'ant, dawg.
Bad boys, bad boys
Whatcha gonna do, whatcha gonna do
When they come for you
This is the way it should be. All arrests should be on camera. That way there are no questions on the events.
Now if we could only get this into passenger cars, whenever there is an accident the video evidence will be examined by insurance companies. The person responsible pays and the other gets the car repaired with no increase in premiums.
Good idea, but I can't wait to hear the excuses when some cop goes on a roid rage and all of a sudden the video isn't available.
What, you mean your iPhone doesn't natively do this?
@TxdoHawk
Huh? I don't know of a single agency where A) all contacts aren't already recorded by at LEAST audio and B) that evidence is not editable by the officers or anyone at the law enforcement agency for that matter. Also, there are these new things called drug tests and background investigations. I get pretty tired of d-bags always accusing law enforcement of misbehavior when it simply isn't the case. Too many people don't realize that local municipalities go way out of their way to ensure scummy people DON'T get hired. They end up costing them millions of dollars in the end.
Who'll sale cops wifi sniffer first?
english dude, english.
This is exactly the kind of vehicle mesh system the founder of Zipcar has been talking about for at least 2 years. Awesome.
that picture needs some caps
Like "Come to me beeyotch"
Sorry, here's the URL to her mesh network TED talk
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/robin_chase_on_zipcar_and_her_next_big_idea.html
@ matt
simalar to NASCAR
oMG a left turn
OMG nother one
ZOMG another one
well
its still makes shit loads of money :P
The Meizu M8 is out: http://www.meizu.com/cn/m8.html
For fucks sake Engadget, put the news up; people should know about such thing.
Not only that, buy when you buy a 16GB Zune, you get a 4GB Zune for free... so 2 for $179 CAD!
+1 for the M* news
And all I have to do is carry a Wi-Fi signal blocker with me and nothing will be streamed back.
I thought the same thing at first smilgy however though it may not be streaming to their supervisors and dispatch, it will still be recording in the car. All that needs to be done is take the disc out of the car and play it @ the office.
ya i hope the stereotype isn't true, and the black guy doesn't shoot the white cop, and then starts a rap career.
Seems like a complete violation of privacy to me.
...but now after actually reading more than just the headline, I see what they're doing.
I'm an idiot.
World's Funniest Criminals would be #2
Corrupt cops and crack rocks
Great. guess who gets to finance this great project! wow. I always wanted to watch the updated "Truman show". Only the stars of the show are you and me. and instead of some big wig producer, we the tax payers get to be executive producers of "the new Truman show" I wouldn't waste my time. I can see it now. Jim Carey and Co. suing for copyright infringements only to try to jump on the band wagon. Business as usual in the great USA. Its all coming together now. Soon no corner of the earth will be hid from anyone. Just in time for the first President in the US to usher in the New Socialist Republic of the North American Union. You wanted change. You got change.
The real story here is that they are getting wireless access to all their citizens. The ability of the cops to stream back live is a bonus to the fact that they'll have internet access in their vehicles everywhere within city limits.
Instead of being a d-bag and still being ticked off about the election, maybe enjoy that bringing better internet connectivity to your town means the possibility of bringing better jobs as well.
moar liek "everyone and YOUR mother" amirite?
Alright, they need to work a deal with Cheaters pronto!
wait, big brother watching big brother?
Wow, I'm actually from there and trust me, you don't want to see this city through a webcam
or even IRL as far as I'm concerned
You'd just see cops arresting trailer trash, wannabe thugs, wiggers and goths
at what point do you see any thing in this artical that there guna stream to anyone who wants to watch. here since ur to lazy to read past the headline ill paste it for you "the city has installed wireless video cameras in police vehicles so dispatchers and supervisors can monitor activities during traffic stops"