What Happened When I Tried to Get Some Answers About the Creepy NYPD Watchtower Monitoring OWS

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/occupywallst/152954/what_happened_when_i_tried_to_get_some_answers_about_the_creepy_nypd_watchtower_monitoring_ows/

November 1, 2011 |

LIBERTY SQUARE – The drummers drummed. The guitarists strummed. And the hearty souls building a new society in Lower Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park traded in their tarps for tents as the temperature dropped. All the while, Officer Guzman stood watch.

But there was something special about Officer Guzman. He wasn’t one of the 25 police officers I counted standing on the perimeter of Liberty Square that first wintery day. He wasn’t one of dozens more shooting the breeze with their partners inside a police van or sitting alone in a cruiser texting. Officer Guzman spent the day suspended in the air, two stories up, at the corner of Trinity Place and Liberty Street, inside a little metal box that goes by the name Sky Watch.

For the initiated, Sky Watch is like one of those mechanical forest walkers from the Star Wars movies without the lasers or the walking. Imagine an 7-foot by 6-foot metal box, with blacked out windows on its four sides, bristling with cameras, spotlights, and a small spinning anemometer (to calculate wind speed), atop spindly hydraulic legs that allow it to sit on the ground or rise up two stories. Inside that climate-controlled cube is a control panel with switches to turn on the lights, a joystick to raise and lower the unit, and various other remote controls that Officer Guzman or someone like him can use to direct the cameras and watch their feeds on video screens (while they are recorded on multiple digital video recorders).

[NYC_SKP]

1. The small spinning anemometer is something that a Sniper would find indispensible.

I wonder if Officer Guzman is well armed up in his little spy box.

x(

[xchrom]

2. i'm sure they are. nt

[Tesha]

6. It's probably there to make sure his ass doesn't get blown-over in a high wind. (NT)

[ProgressiveProfessor]

10. Actually snipers do better than that

[-..__...]

20. No need in an urban sniping enviorment.

LEO sniper engagements are typically under 100 meters (think line of sight and less concern for return fire)...

As policemen, they are trained to shoot only as a last resort, when there is a direct threat to life; the police sharpshooter has a well-known rule: "Be prepared to take a life to save a life."<33> Police snipers typically operate at much shorter ranges than military snipers, generally under 100 metres (109 yd) and sometimes even less than 50 metres (55 yd). Both types of snipers do make difficult shots under pressure, and often perform one-shot kills.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sniper#Police

Unless there are high winds present... the need to compensate/adjust for windage at those short ranges is unnecessary.

[cherokeeprogressive]

21. It might also help decide where and when to dispense tear-gas. n/t

[yurbud]

24. that was the detail that got me too.

[JHB]

3. ...or you can just call it a moblie security booth that can be jacked up...

...for better visibility.

NYPD used the same thing (probably the very same piece of equipment) to direct crowd control at the RW anti-"Ground Zero mosque" demonstrations.

Its usage (and expense) is open to debate, but there is nothing extra-sinister about its use by Zucotti Park.

[NYC_SKP]

4. In NYC, I've had both The Pope AND Ronald Reagan Drive by my apartment on my very street...

...where I could see them out my window, so the surveillance thing doesn't shock me.

The Pope came down Broadway when I lived in a loft near Bleeker, and Reagan came down East Houston when I lived near the corner of Clinton (which now makes me smile a little), aka Avenue B.

:hi:

[JHB]

5. I've crossed paths with the motorcade routes of the Pope and Clinton...

Fortunately it wasn't at any time I needed to get somewhere fast, because (as you know) when they close off streets for one of those, it cuts off everything for a helluva lot longer than it takes for the cars to actually pass.

[Fire Walk With Me]

7. He's watching us, watching him.

It's like the Deniro character in the "...Fokker" films with Ben Stiller. A mobile home full of CIA gear monitoring...nothing.

However, it probably makes the cop feel in control, which is nice for him.

[Fire Walk With Me]

8. It's bullying and intimidation. It reeks of prison camps.

They're attempting to context shift. The answer is to laugh and welcome them. Kops don't know what to do when you love them.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

9. An EXCELLENT article. Well worth reading to the end.

Welcome to the Police state.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

11. Where are the other OPs

They are there, they are at every encampment. Its important to know where they are in case things get hot. I spotted two yesterday, but one moved over night.

[Huey P. Long]

12. thank you for posting. -eom

[coalition_unwilling]

13. Taxpayers of New York City and State should be absolutely

outraged at this colossal waste of their tax dollars.

That's the only words I can find for it.

[xchrom]

15. indeed. how much is that costing popped into my mind right away. nt

[saras]

14. Used to be traffic cams

http://www.speedcam.co.uk/gatso2.htm

[Zorra]

16. "All along the watchtower, princes kept the view...

While all the women came and went, barefoot servants, too.

Outside in the cold distance a wildcat did growl
Two riders were approaching, and the wind began to howl."

Bob Dylan

Jimi's interpretation, with lyrics

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIhtafqZvy8

[cliffordu]

17. IMHO one of the greatest recordings, ever....

GREAT song, perfectly done by Hendrix, and the production, that compression in the acoustic guitar juxtaposed with his guitar lines are fucking PERFECT.

[Zorra]

19. I could not agree more. And the lyrics are so fitting for OWS.

:thumbsup:
The production is amazing for the time, or for any time, for that matter. It was one of those extremely rare instances of when an inspired brilliantly and passionately performed piece of lyrical and musical love magic genius actually gets captured in a recorded take and is engineered and produced with the same level of inspired magic to create something near artistic perfection.

I can play Jimi's version of Watchtower pretty much note for note on guitar and no matter how hard or how many times I've tried I have never been able to come within a million miles of reproducing the tone, feel, or sound of the recording.

And the lyrics are timeless.

"All Along The Watchtower"

"There must be some way out of here" said the joker to the thief
"There's too much confusion", I can't get no relief
Businessmen, they drink my wine, plowmen dig my earth
None of them along the line know what any of it is worth.

"No reason to get excited", the thief he kindly spoke
"There are many here among us who feel that life is but a joke
But you and I, we've been through that, and this is not our fate
So let us not talk falsely now, the hour is getting late".

All along the watchtower, princes kept the view
While all the women came and went, barefoot servants, too.

Outside in the distance a wildcat did growl
Two riders were approaching, the wind began to howl.
Bob Dylan

[RagAss]

18. Excellent song. My favorite version happens to be Dave Mason's...but they're all good.

[-..__...]

22. This guy...

smokes it (no lyrics... just electric violin)...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5xK_FdHxj4

[Downwinder]

23. With all of the security around,

why is a women's security tent necessary?

[varelse]

25. now that

is the million dollar question

Why indeed?