Hidden Cameras in Streetlights
Both the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are hiding surveillance cameras in streetlights.
According to government procurement data, the DEA has paid a Houston, Texas company called Cowboy Streetlight Concealments LLC roughly $22,000 since June 2018 for “video recording and reproducing equipment.” ICE paid out about $28,000 to Cowboy Streetlight Concealments over the same period of time.
It’s unclear where the DEA and ICE streetlight cameras have been installed, or where the next deployments will take place. ICE offices in Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio have provided funding for recent acquisitions from Cowboy Streetlight Concealments; the DEA’s most recent purchases were funded by the agency’s Office of Investigative Technology, which is located in Lorton, Virginia.
Fifty thousand dollars doesn’t buy a lot of streetlight surveillance cameras, so either this is a pilot program or there are a lot more procurements elsewhere that we don’t know about.
eireoldeboy • November 16, 2018 7:55 AM
My favorite streetlight story was one where some people in a public park were suspected of selling non-prescription items. The city attorney, a long-time friend, asked me for a recommendation. I asked two questions: Do you want to arrest anymore and how much do you want to spend? The answers were: No and as little as possible.
So, a phony camera with a blinking light was fixed to the top of an electical pole and a sign was put up advising passers-by that the area was under surveillance. The word “video” was purposely left out.
The camera cost about $35 and the sign about $25. So, the peddlers left the park in short order. I hope that the DEA got 300 phony cameras installed for the $ 22K.