Vista deputies trying out a mobile hidden camera

By: YVETTE URREA - Staff Writer | Wednesday, March 22, 2006 10:50 PM PST ∞

VISTA ---- Deputies in Vista are now testing a camera they say will allow them to secretly record illegal activities in public areas.

But while the aim is to catch criminals, anyone who walks in front of the camera is subject to being watched and recorded as they go about their daily business.

The camera, said to be the first of its kind in the county, will allow Vista deputies to secretly observe any public area, such as a park or alley, where criminal activity has been reported, said sheriff's Sgt. Marc Ramirez, of the community-oriented policing team.

Deputies are testing the mobile camera now and will begin using it in the next few weeks, he said.

Sheriffs officials would not permit the $20,000 wireless camera to be photographed. They said that if pictures were published, the camera might be recognized and damaged in the field. The camera was paid for with a grant from the city's Weed and Seed Program, in which the city works with law enforcement and private partners to reduce crime in the Townsite neighborhood.

"It looks like any standard utility equipment (like a phone or cable box)," Ramirez said of the camera.

The digital camera can be mounted just about anywhere and can transmit high-definition images to a deputy monitoring the encrypted images live at another location via a laptop computer, Ramirez said. The camera can also record images to be viewed later, Ramirez said.

Deputies cannot set the camera up arbitrarily to try to catch citizens committing crimes, officials said.

"There are established policies and procedures in the Sheriff's Department regarding electronic surveillance equipment and they are adhered to," Ramirez said. For example, the activity being recorded must be in plain sight and be able to be seen from the street.

Assistant City Manager Rick Dudley said the city supports using the camera, and added that the city has used concealed security cameras in the Creekwalk, near the Vista Village redevelopment area, for a few years and hasn't heard any complaints about privacy.

"If you're a car thief, or somebody who breaks into cars and steals stereos, maybe you should be up in arms about this," he said. "If you're a normal person who abides by the law, we're not interested in what you're doing."

Sheriff's Cpl. Steve Litwin said there should be no concern that deputies will be using the camera to look inside people's houses. The focus, he said, is on catching people making street drug deals and vandals.

Kevin Keenan, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of San Diego and Imperial Counties, said, "To be clear, I don't think there's a legal violation of a right to privacy, but this type of secret surveillance contributes to a total information surveillance society. It has the potential to chill legitimate, lawful, First Amendment activity."

"At a minimum, the public should demand effective, independent oversight in how these cameras are used, Keenan said. "Our sense is the public is fed up with all these cameras everywhere."

He said there is potential for abuse of the equipment by law enforcement. He also said that while the images are encrypted, there's almost no technology that hackers can't break.

Tom Fleming, president of the Vista Village Business Association, said Wednesday that he thought the camera was a great tool for law enforcement and would benefit business owners and law-abiding citizens. Fleming said the camera will only serve as a deterrent to criminals doing illegal things in public places.

"They're not going to be putting them in private areas," Fleming said. "I don't think it's an infringement."

Ramirez said the camera will be useful for long surveillance details and in cases where criminals might recognize a sheriff's vehicle.

"It's like having a deputy on surveillance for 24 hours and it doesn't need a break," Ramirez said.

Litwin said the camera may also be used by the sheriff's narcotics and gang units as well as the community-oriented policing team.

Ramirez said the camera is very sophisticated and can be programmed to zoom in on people's faces or license plates, then zoom back out, depending on how they are programmed. He said if a surveillance effort was next to a private home, the camera could even be programmed to black out a nearby window.

While the camera is mobile, deputies could opt to leave it mounted in one location and it can record up to a month's worth of activity, Litwin said.

The sergeant said digital camera recordings are acceptable as evidence because they are time- and date-stamped and are encrypted to a federal standard, so they can't be altered.

Litwin said so far they have only used the camera to test it out and that some deputies are still being trained in how to use the system.

Staff Writer Craig TenBroeck contributed to this story.

Contact staff writer Yvette Urrea at (760) 901-4076 or yurrea@nctimes.com.

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