12/6/2006
Iowa: Red Light Camera Money Buys Spy CamerasPhoto enforcement has been so profitable in Davenport, Iowa that the city is installing CCTV spy cameras.
![CCTV camera](/rlc/pix/l3cctv.jpg)
Red light cameras and speed cameras have generated so much revenue in Davenport, Iowa that the city will fund a new camera system that allows Davenport Police to keep tabs on local residents and issue tickets for offenses such as loitering. The new system will use wireless technology to record anything that happens and send video to squad cars or central monitoring stations. Mobile camera units will ensure nobody will know exactly when they might be under surveillance.
"We really don't want to demonstrate to the public our full capabilities, but, yes, it would be our goal to identify people from a long distance, and that is an achievable goal," Police Chief Mike Bladel told the city council Monday, as reported by the Quad City Times.
In January, two Liverpool, UK city workers were caught using closed circuit TV cameras (CCTV) for voyeurism. Evidence produced in Liverpool Crown Court included videotape of private moments in a woman's apartment taken with a city-owned CCTV camera using a zoom lens.
Raytheon in providing Davenport's cameras on a trial basis and has only charged $10,000 so far.