Three cameras recently installed in Fairmount Park are part of a $140,000 crime-prevention project being conducted by the Philadelphia Police designed to help police track crime in high-traffic areas.
"These are not out there as surveillance devices," said Deputy Police Commissioner Charles Brennan. "This is a test bed for us."
Brennan said that the installation of the three cameras -- one is between the Philadelphia Museum of Art and Boathouse Row, and the other two are on West River Drive -- is a test of new wireless-data and smart-camera technology.
The cameras are being installed near the location in which the "Fairmount Park rapist" attacked his third victim in 2003. The technology, which is still being improved upon, will attempt to prevent future crimes by identifying situations in which people are forcibly pulled off jogging paths. The cameras are able to alert the police if such an incident occurs.
The cameras can also be used for other identification purposes.
IBM claims that the camera can be programmed to seek out an individual matching several identifying characteristics. For instance, the Fairmount rapist used a purple bicycle to escape from the crime scenes, and the computer might be able to recognize such a description.
Cameras communicate with police through wireless technology, which allows high-speed, wireless communication. Verizon is working with the city to install the technology.
"We want to be able to see if it is possible to send video wirelessly to anywhere in the city," Brennan said. "To be able to move those cameras around without wires is what we're testing."
The Police Department is considering on-the-street tests of the software to determine its effectiveness.
"I'm going to send someone out there. Maybe we're going to take a fake swipe at a car" to see if the software picks up the activity, Brennan said.
The installation of the cameras has raised some questions about privacy issues, but Brennan said those concerns have no basis.
"There is no right to privacy in public places," Brennan said. "As long as the cameras are unable to look into private places, they are perfectly legal."
Wharton freshman Yvonne Wang felt that the cameras could help to deter crime in the park.
"I feel like it could make a difference," Wang said. Criminals "think that they can get away with things, especially late at night, because they think no one will know."
Wang said that cameras did not raise privacy concerns for her.
"A park is public," Wang said. "I know criminals might try to do bad things in there, but normal people shouldn't have a problem."
If proven effective, the three cameras -- funded mainly through grants -- might lead to other surveillance to help police fight crime.
Penn Police use an extensive system of cameras to monitor the area around campus. The city is using the campus as one of its models.
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