{"id":19889,"date":"2012-08-23T19:42:57","date_gmt":"2012-08-24T02:42:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/198.57.196.122\/~gdatwofo\/theavtimes\/?p=19889"},"modified":"2013-01-18T21:32:32","modified_gmt":"2013-01-19T05:32:32","slug":"eye-in-the-sky-takes-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/2012\/08\/23\/eye-in-the-sky-takes-off\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Eye in the Sky\u2019 takes off"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
The aircraft made a test run for reporters at the William J. Fox Airfield in Lancaster Thursday (Aug. 23).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
The aircraft is equipped with a high tech camera that provides a bird’s eye view of activities and circumstances law enforcement teams can’t always assess from ground level.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

LANCASTER \u2013 The Law Enforcement Aerial Platform System (LEAPS) is up and running in the skies over Lancaster, city officials announced Thursday.\u00a0 This means the city is now under constant surveillance by the sheriff\u2019s department, who has a bird\u2019s eye view of activities happening anywhere in the city.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs of tomorrow (Aug. 24), every day of the week we\u2019ll be capturing video,\u201d said Lancaster Station Captain Bob Jonsen.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis program, for a miniscule amount of money, is going to save a lot of lives,\u201d said Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris.<\/p>\n

Jonsen and Parris joined city officials at a press conference Thursday to unveil the new airborne crime fighting-tool and provide details on how it will function.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Deputy Pat Griffin demonstrates how the software works at a press conference Thursday.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For at least 10 hours every day, the piloted Cessna 172, fitted with high-tech optical equipment, will surveil the entire city and record imagery at altitudes ranging from 1,000 to 3,000 feet above ground level.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has a central track on the outside of the city, and it continually goes around that track,\u201d said Jonsen.<\/p>\n

Only assigned LASD personnel will be privy to the information and video transmitted from the aircraft, which will be encrypted and fed directly to the sheriff\u2019s station.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe operators are going to be audited,\u201d said Parris. \u201cThere isn\u2019t going to be anybody looking in their girlfriend\u2019s backyard, because there\u2019s a record of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

When not responding to an incident, the system will be in surveillance mode, with the designated officer directing the pilot via an Ipad in the cockpit.<\/p>\n

If a call comes in about a crime in progress, the operating officer will enter the location into the system. And within seconds, the officer will be able to zoom in and record images from the location while relaying the information to responding deputies, Jonsen said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The system can lock in and follow a criminal target from up to three miles away.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The system can also lock in and follow a criminal target from up to three miles away.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can see what they\u2019re wearing, what color their shoes are, whether they\u2019re carrying an object,\u201d Jonsen said. \u201cWe can get this information to responding units and dramatically increase our effectiveness.\u201d<\/p>\n

LEAPS is also effective at night because of its infrared capabilities, Jonsen said.<\/p>\n

The system allows the sheriff\u2019s department to access up to two years of video data. So if a crime goes unreported, then is later discovered, authorities will be able to access case-relevant activity footage based on date and geographic location.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll be able to attach these videos to these cases, so in front of a jury, you’re going to have some pretty substantial evidence\u2026\u201d Jonsen said. \u201cIt\u2019s going to make public defenders\u2019 jobs a little more difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jonsen said the system will not zoom in and record private property without good reason.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t foresee a reason to be on private property unless we\u2019re investigating a crime,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re not going to be just randomly recording someone\u2019s back yard.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Mayor R. Rex Parris (right) and Lancaster Station Captain Bob Jonsen gave details on LEAPS at a press conference Thursday (Aug. 23).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In acknowledging the privacy concerns of some residents, Parris said critics needed to educate themselves on the new system.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of what people are afraid of doesn\u2019t exist in this particular system\u2026\u201d Parris said. \u201cI would wish that people would educate themselves before they decide whether it\u2019s good or bad, because the criticism so far is from people who have no idea what the capacity of the system is.\u201d<\/p>\n

LEAPS was created by Aero View LLC and engineered and developed by Spiral Technology Inc. The city paid $1.3 million to Aero View to acquire the aircraft, avionics, and other equipment required to develop and deploy LEAPS. The aircraft is fueled, maintained and hangared at William J. Fox Field Airfield in Lancaster. The first 12 months of service and operations are at no cost to the city as part of the management agreement between Aero View and Lancaster. Read more on the agreement here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LANCASTER \u2013 The Law Enforcement Aerial Platform System (LEAPS) is up and running in the skies over Lancaster, city officials announced Thursday.\u00a0 This means the city is now under constant surveillance by the sheriff\u2019s department, who has a bird\u2019s eye view of activities happening anywhere in the city. \u201cAs of tomorrow (Aug. 24), every day […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":19892,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19889"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19889"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19889\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}