Arguing that the technology requires too much manpower to be effective, Baltimore police are phasing out the first generation of blue-light cameras -- among the city's most visible crime-fighting tools.
Baltimore City Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III said the portable cameras, which represent about 18 percent of all crime cameras in the city, will slowly be replaced with more sophisticated closed-circuit units.
"There's a great deal more heavy lifting involved to make them effective," said Bealefeld, who called the portable cameras an "albatross" during a budget hearing this week. "That's something we've learned during our experience with camera deployment."
FOR THE RECORD
Because of incorrect information supplied by the Baltimore Police Department, an article in yesterday's editions of The Sun incorrectly reported the name of one type of police camera system used to monitor city streets. The cameras are called PODSS, which stands for Portable Overt Digital Surveillance System.
The Sun regrets the error.
Baltimore has spent years building up a surveillance system that today includes 454 closed-circuit cameras, which are wired back to a monitoring center. The ones the city wants to phase out are its 102 "podds" -- portable overt digital display system -- cameras, which include the boxy, blue-light variety.
Police have complained for years about the limitations of the "podds," which must be monitored on site with a laptop-style controller. Police can also review video stored in the cameras, but they sometimes have difficulty retrieving the images.
"By virtue of their design they were meant to be a deterrent, to be a physical beacon in their neighborhood," said Bealefeld, adding that it takes a large commitment of personnel to make the cameras a preventive measure. "If they're going to be a deterrent, you have to have teeth in them."
The cameras, first installed at Pennsylvania Avenue and Laurens Street in 2005, have been a polarizing element of the city's crime strategy from the start. Civil libertarians objected to them, as did Baltimore State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy, who argued that they were ineffective.
Initial demand
But some neighborhoods clamored for the portable cameras because their large, blinking blue lights were seen as a crime deterrent. Kristen Mahoney, who helped build the camera system, said lights were later added to some closed-circuit cameras as well.
"Drug dealers tend to embrace technology more quickly than we do sometimes, and we've got to continually evolve to stay ahead of it," said Mahoney, who is now executive director of the Governor's Office of Crime Control and Prevention.
