NYPD Teams With Microsoft To Create Citywide Surveillance Network

Microsoft is getting into the spy business. The tech firm has teamed with the New York Police Department to create a citywide terror and crimefighting surveillance system that could eventually find itself spread throughout cities around the world.

The system is a complex web of video cameras, radiation detectors, and license plate readers located around the city as well as 911 calls and crime statistics, all of which work together to provide “near-instant” information to law enforcement agencies.

The surveillance system will be so advanced that it will allow investigators to immediately local a suspect’s car, determine where it has been for the last month, and even determine if another suspect’s vehicle is following close behind.

Dubbed the Domain Awareness System, New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg has called the program “a one-stop shop for law enforcement.”

Microsoft is supplying the IT while the New York Police Department (NYPD) will bring its operational know-how to the project.

If the program is a success, it could mean a revenue windfall for New York City as Microsoft would provide NYC with 30 percent of the profit from sales to police departments in other American cities and friendly countries.

New York City officials have spent $40 million creating the state-of-the-art platform which they hope will curb crime while reducing wasteful time spent investigating basic publicly available facts about any given case.

Do you think Microsoft and New York City officials are creating a worthwhile system for crime fighting or wasting taxpayer dollars on a system meant to spy on U.S. citizens throughout their everyday lives?