Big Brother In The "Big Apple": Encircling Manhattan With Thousands Of Surveillance Cameras

The Lower Manhattan Security Initiative (LMSI) and a related program, Operation Sentinel, are modeled after London's so-called "Ring of Steel." In London, roads entering the city are narrowed and have tight serpentine curves that force drivers to slow down and be recorded by CCTV cameras. Typically, such roads have concrete or reinforced plastic medians with a sentry box where police stand guard and monitor traffic flows. Following the July 7, 2005 terrorist attacks in London, security has been stepped up, with occasional spot checks by machine-gun toting police of cars and trucks entering the security cordon.
As it now stands, LMSI would link a matrix of 3,000 public and private surveillance cameras for monitoring and tracking vehicles and pedestrians south of Canal Street, the city's financial hub. Other features of the system include mobile roadblocks that could swivel into place and block off any given street to traffic.

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