LA police use cameras to catch pirated DVD sellers

[kirpen]

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=industryNews&storyID=8658375
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Los Angeles is installing a network of surveillance cameras intended to catch street hawkers selling counterfeit goods, especially pirated copies of Hollywood movies on DVD.

The Motion Picture Association of America, which represents major movie studios in government matters, contributed $186,000 to help pay for the system, which was unveiled Tuesday by Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton.

In recent years, the MPAA has embarked on a campaign to stamp out the illegal copying of movies on video and DVD, which it says costs the industry $3.5 billion annually in lost revenues. The MPAA argues copyright piracy also leads to lost jobs and threatens the entire industry.

"That industry is the lifeblood of this city," Bratton told reporters. "If it goes, we go. It's that clear."

The plan calls for 10 cameras to be installed on buildings in Los Angeles' downtown fashion district where sellers of counterfeit goods target tourists and other potential buyers.

Four cameras are already operating. Six more were scheduled to be installed in coming weeks, Bratton said.

The digital cameras beam pictures to a police precinct where they are monitored by an officer who can dispatch undercover police to the location. The LAPD has found that similar camera surveillance systems in three city parks have dramatically reduced illegal drug sales, Bratton said.

Bratton said word about the fashion district cameras was quickly getting out to sellers of bogus DVDs, In a typical week, police confiscate thousands of illegal DVDs in the fashion district. Last weekend, only 191 were confiscated, with four arrests made, Bratton said.

Capt. Andrew Smith, the commanding officer for the fashion district, acknowledged sellers could pack their wares and move to another street, but added the plan would deprive them of a market filled with thousands of shoppers.

He said the LAPD hoped to expand the system if it was successful.

[bunginuts]

Well lets see, people wouldn't pirate movies if they were more affordable. I've noticed that decent movies are now $25 dollars. A movie has to be damn good if I'm going to shell out that much money for a movie(All hail Evil Dead trilogy). I think I'll stick to renting them than buying a movie until Hollywood wises up.

Juggalo love,

BungiNuts

[AlecWest]

This news story sounds a lot like "spin." True, such cameras could catch pirates selling their wares. But cameras like that are already in widespread use to catch crime in general. It's not as if a cop watching a camera monitor would say, "Nah, that was just a purse-snatch. Remember, we're looking for video pirates."

Aren't law enforcement surveillance cameras like this already used heavily in Britain?

[waheed]

Aren't law enforcement surveillance cameras like this already used heavily in Britain?

Yep, we have surveillance cameras all over the city centres.

[RottenFoxBreath]

Aren't law enforcement surveillance cameras like this already used heavily in Britain?

Yep, we have surveillance cameras all over the city centres.

and they still dont work.most ,and i use this term lightly,sensible criminals,cover there faces and keep out of there way,except for the stupid drunk fighters that ya get a kill at on tv programmes,and crimes still on the way up,even if the goverment would like us to believe that its not.

[BJ_M]

i guess selling pirate dvds is more importaint to stop than the widespread gang and drug problems in LA ...

nothing like priorities ..

[tlegion]

Why would they need fixed cameras? Just put wireless cameras on an undercover operative have them buy a pirate DVD then lower the boom. It works for drugs and prostitution. And the operative could put some sort of evidence seal on the package, caught by the camera, so the vendor could not claim that it was switched later.

[BJ_M]

maybe the police don't want to spend the resources on full time undercover cops for this ..

[handyguy]

"Yep, we have surveillance cameras all over the city centres."

Yeah, London has 1m cameras I read. Freaky. I wonder if they are in the bathrooms too.

[AlecWest]

most ,and i use this term lightly,sensible criminals,cover there faces....

Hehe. Locally, we have photo-radar traps for speeders. But early on, they discovered it was a bit harder to get people in court. You can't fine a vehicle's registered owner for speeding ... you have to fine the driver (who may be someone other than the registered owner ... a friend or relative to whom the car was loaned). Anyhoo, they're required to send a copy of the photo to the accused registered owner. If the photo doesn't clearly identify the face, the registered owner is not forced to "fess up" ... or turn in a friend or relative. All they have to do is say, "This isn't a photo of me." And, unless the court can prove the photo was of the registered owner (beyond a reasonable doubt in front of a jury), the ticket is usually dropped. Prosecutors have neither the funds nor the time to take these kind of cases through a jury trial, hehe. And already, they've caught at least one person on camera (one they'll admit to, anyway) who was wearing a gorilla mask.

Ain't technology grand?