Crime : Expanding network of security cameras is valuable crimefighting tool, NYPD Commissioner Kelly says

A look inside the NYPD's command center. Commish says Ring of Steel has helped capture scores of subway criminals.

The city's top cop said Thursday the ever-expanding network of security cameras monitoring Manhattan streets and subways has played a key role in scores of recent arrests.
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said the so-called Ring of Steel technology has helped cops nab about 100 criminals in the subways in the past eight months alone.
Most of those bandits were collared for assault, purse-snatching and robbery. In one case, cops used aboveground cameras to retrace the steps of a suspect in a sexual assault as he walked from the crime scene back to his job, Kelly said.
The NYPD developed the Ring of Steel following 9/11, hoping it would become an important crimefighting tool, particularly in the battle against terrorism.
Since then, by adding cameras from businesses to the program, the fledgling system has been expanded greatly.
"The structure is in place to significantly increase the number of cameras at the right spots," Kelly said yesterday before cops led reporters on a tour of the system's command center in lower Manhattan.
The network was originally intended to run south from Canal St. and also cover midtown from river to river between 30th and 60th Sts.
Right now, there are about 1,800 closed-circuit cameras in place, divided equally between midtown and downtown.
When the system is completed, it will feature as many as 3,000 cameras, Kelly said.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority joined the program last summer, adding 590 cameras throughout the subway system.
The high-tech network cost about $200million, with the city contributing $8 million and the federal Department of Homeland Security footing the rest of the bill.
It has also proven effective in tracking down people who mistakenly leave a bag on a sidewalk - normally innocent moments of forgetfulness that must be treated seriously because of the terrorism threat, Kelly said.
The command center, perched in a skyscraper's penthouse, has a 40-foot-tall wall of television screens showing camera footage. In an adjacent area, there is a command center for monitoring radiation detectors from throughout the city.
Kelly said video footage will automatically be deleted unless it relates to a specific investigation.

Maryland Bomb Sender Was Angry About Traffic Signs

Two mail packages ignited in separate government buildings in Maryland yesterday, setting off an afternoon panic and a lockdown of state government mailrooms. And there's evidence to suggest highway signs inspired the act.

Both packages were addressed to Gov. Martin O'Malley, according to The Baltimore Sun, and a source told The Sun that the package mailed to the Jeffrey Building near the State House in Annapolis contained the following message.

Report suspicious activity. Total [expletive]. You have created your own self-fulfilling prophecy

O'Malley suggested that the message referred to highway signs asking people to report suspicious activity.

"So somebody doesn't like seeing those signs," he said.

Some Maryland commuters have apparently complained that drivers were slowing down to read the signs. "At O'Malley's request, the state studied the issue and removed the real-time postings from one congested area on the Capital Beltway," NBC News reports.

The packages caused no significant injuries. A mailroom employee at the Jeffrey Building in Annapolis singed his or her fingers, but later refused medical treatment. After being opened, both packages "ignited in a small puff of smoke and smelled of sulfur," according to The Sun.