Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Network will guard bridges- SECURITY CAMERAS SCANNING BAY AREA STRUCTURES

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 25 Mar 2003 17:03:55 -0500

Posted on Tue, Mar. 25, 2003

Network will guard bridges- SECURITY CAMERAS SCANNING BAY AREA STRUCTURES

  By Dan Reed
  Mercury News

  As bombs continue to drop on Baghdad, a vast high-tech network of security cameras
scouting for terrorists at Bay Area
  bridges and tunnels is now more than 70 percent complete, even though the authorities
are saying little about it.

  The system, funded by Caltrans to the tune of $20 million, is dubbed the Bay Area
Security Enhancement Project. It is
  already scanning seven bridges and three tunnels.

  The exception to the near-blanket security network is the jewel of all the bridges
ringing the bay -- the Golden Gate
  Bridge. It is covered by its own security system, but officials are considering joining
the network, said the prime
  contractor heading the project.

  Fifteen months in the making, the initiative is leading the state's security upgrade in
the wake of the Al-Qaida attacks of
  Sept. 11, 2001.

  ``If it's any comfort to anyone, all this stuff works,'' Caltrans spokesman Greg Bayol
said of the security web. ``We
  have a real good handle on anyone being where they shouldn't be on one of our
structures.''

  The project's near-completion comes just as a captured Al-Qaida leader has revealed a
bridge in San Francisco or San
  Mateo was on a list of possible targets for the terrorist network.

  The Bay Bridge -- the largest of the network's seven -- has about 100 cameras, many
hanging below the roadways,
  casting an infrared light onto the piers and foundation.

  ``I can detect something coming, see in the dark about 150 to 250 feet,'' said David
Brown, division manager of Royal
  Electric in Sacramento, the prime contractor. ``It will actually work in pitch
darkness.''

  In the past, bridge cameras were only on the roadways, to monitor for accidents, stalls
and traffic congestion. These
  newer cameras are for security, and are monitored by Caltrans workers and the California
Highway Patrol in Oakland,
  and in an undisclosed backup location.

  They are wireless and can pan, tilt and zoom. Several cameras can be coordinated on the
same target -- for example,
  the shadow of somebody climbing the cables. ``At miles, you could see something,'' Brown
said. ``At a quarter-mile, I
  could tell it was you.''

  The multimillion-dollar initiative comes at a time when the Coast Guard and CHP are
stepping up their patrols, worried
  about terrorist reprisals for the war in Iraq. Sunday, the camera network, a plane and a
patrol cruiser all noticed three
  trespassers on the Bay Bridge near Treasure Island within 60 seconds of one another, CHP
Sgt. Wayne Ziese said. The
  men were cited.

  No one would say whether any blind spots will remain once the installation is complete,
but it was clear that not every
  inch of every span will always be under view.

  ``We have all the major critical construction protected,'' Brown said. ``It's definitely
cutting-edge technology.'' Also
  equipped are the Caldecott Tunnel leading to the East Bay and the tubes into the island
city of Alameda.

  Not taking part is the Golden Gate Bridge, which is run by a district composed of six
counties and has its own
  surveillance network. But Greg Johnston, founder of RVision, the San Jose firm providing
the cameras, said project
  leaders asked to have several cameras attached to the Bay Bridge trained on the Golden
Gate Bridge as backup
  security.

  Mary Currie, spokeswoman for the Golden Gate Bridge District, said the district did not
request the added surveillance.
  She added: ``We upgrade and change our technology to keep pace with developments,'' but
declined to provide
  further details.

  Brown said the Golden Gate district is investigating the new network but has made no
commitment to buying in.

http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/5476179.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

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