Law enforcement officials refuse to identify who installed 'mystery' cameras on utility poles thro

Okay so I was just cruisin fark.com and saw this posten and became creeped out very soon afterward. There are cameras being put up around this place and nobody knows or wont tell which agency is putting them up and what they are there for. I think something sinister is going on here for this much secrecy. Anyone have any ideas as to what this is?





northcountrynow.com...

this is just a small snippet from the article

Law enforcement officials refuse to identify who installed 'mystery' cameras on utility poles throughout St. Lawrence County
Thursday, May 31, 2012 - 5:12 pm

By CRAIG FREILICH

Some area law enforcement officials apparently know who is installing the mysterious camera boxes on utility poles around St. Lawrence County, but they’re not saying who it is.

The boxes, with a window for cameras to peer out of, have popped up in Norwood, Raymondville, DeKalb Junction, Waddington, Massena and Canton, according to witnesses.

Law enforcement officials at local, state and federal agencies agree the boxes contain license plate readers that take snapshots, and are not video cameras that send live feeds. But none of them are willing to identify what agency the cameras belong to and who is operating them.

The cameras appear to be identical to license plate readers advertised on web sites as containing a visible light camera, infrared camera and an infrared light source. The cameras can read plates on passing vehicles, record the plate number, date, time and location, send it to a database for storage, and alert law enforcement if it detects a vehicle or driver being sought.

They are similar to vehicle-mounted units that St. Lawrence County Sheriff Kevin Wells says his department has been using for 10 years.

But about the pole-mounted cameras, Sheriff Wells says, “They are not mine.”

A spokesperson from National Grid, the major electric distributor in the region, said the company periodically agrees to requests from police agencies for placement of such devices on utility poles, but they are not permitted to reveal any details about whose cameras they are or where they might be.

National Grid’s Virginia Limmiatis, a senior media relations representative in Syracuse, said their policy “authorizes the user to plug into our system. Under the agreement they are required to install and maintain their own equipment.” The user will get a bill for a usage fee. But she couldn’t say whose cameras these are.

Meanwhile, a box Massena Electric employees found on one of their poles was turned over to the Massena Police Department. “We didn’t even know it was a camera,” said Superintendent Andrew McMahon. “We called the village police to pick it up.”

Massena Police Chief Timmy Currier said he returned it to the owner, but wouldn’t say how he knew who the owner was, nor would he say who he gave it to.

A Border Patrol operations officer in the sector station in Swanton, Vt., said he had no knowledge about the use of the cameras. He referred questions to an investigator apparently associated with Franklin County law enforcement, who said he knew about other cameras, but didn’t know about deployment of license plate readers, and wouldn’t discuss it further.

State Police Lt. Kevin Boyea of Troop B said he has no knowledge of the cameras, their origin or their purpose.

However, not all police agencies were aware of the boxes. After discussing it at a periodic meeting of police chiefs from around the county this morning, Wells said, “none of the local chiefs were ever contacted about the existence of these cameras.”

I'm guessing that we should expect more & more of these over time.
All I can say is move to a rural area.

Perhaps action should be taken! What are the legalities in your area in regards to you being recorded without your permission? There are many other questions that can be asked in a legal venue.

reply to post by GmoS719


This is a rural area, I grew up round those parts and this is as rural as it comes.... for example... My gram, who lives about 10 miles from one town mentioned has only had access to time warner cable for about 10 years as before that time they had not yet run wires up her road and didnt want to spare the expense. The towns in this area have graduating classes of 25-30, To me that is as rural as it gets. Ive been following this since it was posted here in this intro....

www.abovetopsecret.com...


hope i did that right, first time ive tried to link **~*

reply to post by lobotomizemecapin


Just start tearing them down or blocking the cameras bet you would find out who they belonged to then

haha I do not live in the area I used to live a a couple of hours from this area but have since moved further south here on the east coast. I just ran across this on fark and was kinda creeped out that they can set stuff like this up using tax payer money without letting the public know what it is for and who controls them.

reply to post by buddybaney


Spray them with paint and see who shows up.

McMahon, the superintendent at Massena Electric Department, said one of his crews found a box on one of their poles and took it down because “it was in the electric space,” the top tier of wires on the pole above the telephone and cable TV wires, and whoever put it there had taken a chance with electrocution. He said they had never received a request or been informed about its placement.

I'm pretty sure it's illegal to mount anything on a utility pole without permission and whoever is putting up these cameras obviously did not get permission. Anyone that finds one of these on a pole should notify the power company. They would have the right to remove the box and dispose of it as they see fit.

I've seen this done by the military before, but it was for surviellance along the lines of terrorist activty.

Looked like a normal work crew was working on the light, next minute you've got a decent view of whatever you want.

CX.

Could they possibly belong to DHS? That is the only thing I can think of where the secrecy would be allowed.

It's absurd that the public isn't being informed as to WHO is doing this. The police are obviously complicit in this espionage. I fear that there are more 'unknown' surveilance cameras out there than people realize.

Big Brother and the surveilance state is moving full steam ahead.

Went back to this site and found a new article concerning these cameras just released.....

northcountrynow.com...

The only thing that bugs me about this story is their denial that the one camera taken down was not a part of their project... its interesting to say the least

Originally posted by cavtrooper7
reply to post by buddybaney

 

Spray them with paint and see who shows up.

Sounds like a good job for a paint ball gun.

reply to post by TrgiclyHip


I'm not entirely sure I believe that story. If that were the case, why didn't the power company know about it and who thought they had the authority to put something up without permission?

There's a good reason the police aren't saying to whom these cameras belong.

It's obvious they don't know either.

The big question: Is it us or "them"?

Is the source domestic or are the terrorists up to something?

they are probably DHS or NSA, any long list, the police would recognize that, and respect that since they would assume it makes their job easier to find the 'CRIMINALS'. ironic, since they are them.

Originally posted by buddybaney
reply to post by lobotomizemecapin

 

Just start tearing them down or blocking the cameras bet you would find out who they belonged to then

Too much work. Might I suggest a nice paintball gun? Should work nicely, from a distance.

Originally posted by fixer1967

Originally posted by cavtrooper7
reply to post by buddybaney

 

Spray them with paint and see who shows up.

Sounds like a good job for a paint ball gun.

Oops, you beat me to it. Clearly "great minds think alike". A paintball gun should be in everyone's "tool kit".

my guns are too heavy already.But do they make paintballs with enamel paint in them to stay on through weather?
You would need a game camera to record and time the response then hit another camera and take photos for investigations.
Then I'll pick the guy up and see this knife? I'll.........what you want to do this a different way?

reply to post by GmoS719


But these ARE rural areas!

In NY State that is.