This week’s security news roundup features stories from around the world, including a creative way to use GPS in sports, hidden cameras capturing some pretty horrifying things, and more.
Nanny Cam Busts Abusive Ohio Nanny, Informs the Public
Using hidden cameras, a Columbus family captured footage of their babysitter hitting and dropping the boy in her care. The family showed the footage to police, leading to the sitter’s arrest on child abuse charges. The family called a hidden camera expert to install cams when they noticed their son’s mood changed whenever he was with the sitter. The success of the cameras has gotten the attention of parents across the state who are also eager to ensure their children’s safety.
Public Security Cameras Target Hit-and-Runs in NYC
A pair of train-on-truck collisions were caught by facility security cameras this week, highlighting the ability of stationary cameras to capture essential details of the moments leading up to crashes. Now the NYPD and various New York City council members want to take advantage of this technology to leverage already-existing security cameras and catch drivers who commit hit-and-runs. Council members introduced legislation mandating that, after any hit-and-run, the NYPD should collect all videos from nearby surveillance cameras. The bill also hopes to offer tax credits to those who install surveillance cameras on their property. The end result will be more data to police unsafe driving and catch people who commit hit-and-run offenses.
Bizarre Back Bumps: UK Rugby Team Uses GPS to Track Players’ Performance
The British and Irish Lions, a UK rugby team, has taken to putting GPS trackers in its players’ jerseys to help the management analyze players’ performance. This practice has a history in the sport, but hasn’t spread to other sports like soccer and basketball. Managers can see how far players run, their average speed, when their intensity drops, and how each player’s effort compares to the average. With all this data being collected and analyzed in real time, it can help coaches make substitution decisions to keep players fresh. Experts have even begun applying tools to the data to create better training for injury prevention.
Read more at Yahoo’s Eurosport
Schools Turning to Surveillance Cameras to Beef Up Safety
In the expanding wake of the Sandy Hook massacre, more and more state legislatures are turning their attention to improved school safety, and several have induced schools to install surveillance cameras in campus hallways. Although some argue constant surveillance teaches students the wrong kinds of civics lessons, educators who have already improved their camera systems argue that they’ve helped with sorting out facts in disciplinary situations. In the event of more serious incidents, administration can provide evidence to facilitate criminal proceedings, while hopefully providing deterrents to make schools safer.
Aussie Cat Cam Hidden Camera Used to Settle Neighborhood Dispute
An Australian woman was having problems with neighbors’ cats roaming public areas; something her building forbids. Despite the fact that the cats, which she claimed were making it difficult for her to climb stairs, especially with groceries in hand, belonged to members of the Owners Corporation Management Committee, she purchased a security camera and captured footage demonstrating that the cats were in fact occupying public areas without being accompanied by their owners. Although the apparent catastrophe has not been solved yet, it seems this woman has her smoking gun thanks to hidden surveillance cameras.
Illinois Police Capture Killer/Drug Dealer with GPS Car Tracker
In a stroke of luck, Illinois investigators had obtained and acted on a search warrant to place a GPS tracker on alleged drug dealer David Jordan’s vehicle shortly before he shot and killed one of his main drug associates. When the associate was found dead, police naturally used the GPS to track Jordan and bring him in for questioning; and they found a weapon with identifying details that matched it to the dead man’s killing. The GPS data also put Jordan at the site of the killing during the hours in which he is presumed to have been shot. The evidence was strong enough for the judge to set his bail at $3 million, all thanks to a simple GPS.
Disturbing Hidden Camera Footage Exposes Horrific Elder Abuse
Typically when covering news items, one tries to block out any bias towards a story. In this elder abuse case out of Ontario, however, the disgust we feel is pretty hard to ignore. After noticing bruises on his 85-year-old mother (Hellen MacDonald, who suffers from dementia), Camille Parent set up a hidden camera in his mother’s room to get the full story of what was going on at St. Joseph’s at Fleming elder care facility. What he found was absolutely shocking and reprehensible: a staff member taunting the elderly woman with a feces-smeared rag, two staff members acting in an inappropriate sexual manner with MacDonald in the room, other patients wandering into her room and taking her belongings, and more. After turning over the video, four employees have been suspended, and two investigations have been launched.
Read more and watch the video at CTV News
The post Cat Cams, Rugby GPS Back Bumps and More – Security News Roundup, Week of June 10 appeared first on BrickHouse Security Blog: Tech News, Hidden Cameras, GPS Trackers and more.
