Video Cameras

Regarding placing video cameras in police patrol cars--if you can't beat them, join them. M. PALMATIER Los Angeles

More than 25 pro baseball scouts are crowded around the bullpen at Westlake Village Oaks Christian to catch a glimpse of senior right-hander Phil Bickford warming up. Some are holding stopwatches; others are carrying video cameras. It's an all-out study session that will repeat itself each time Bickford steps on the mound. Whether he smiles or frowns, whether he winks or sighs, every reaction is being watched and evaluated. The reason: Bickford has put himself in position to be a possible first-round pick in the June amateur draft.

Metrolink engineers are now being recorded by video cameras in all of the commuter rail agency's locomotives. Installation of the cameras comes in response to the deadly 2008 rail crash in Chatsworth that apparently involved a distracted engineer. "Metrolink becomes the first rail system in the entire nation, passenger or freight, to install and operate these cameras," Metrolink Board Chairman Keith Millhouse said at a morning news conference Monday at the agency's maintenance facility near Elysian Park.

WESTFIELD, Mass. - The envelope factory where Lisa Weber works is hot and noisy. A fan she brought from home helps her keep cool as she maneuvers around whirring equipment to make her quota: 750 envelopes an hour, up from 500 a few years ago. There's no resting: Between the video cameras and the constant threat of layoffs, Weber knows she must always be on her toes. The drudgery of work at National Envelope Co. used to be relieved by small perks - an annual picnic, free hams and turkeys over the holidays - but those have long since been eliminated.

In the aftermath of the Labor Day riot at Huntington Beach, police have been toying with the idea of setting up video cameras at points along the shoreline to watch beach crowds routinely--just in case something happens. The idea should be scrapped before it goes any further. It is taking the use of cameras dangerously beyond reasonable bounds to invade the privacy of innocent people in their daily activities.

A picture may be worth a thousand words, but in court a videotape is worth a lot more than that, Orange County sheriff's officials say. Six months ago, the Sheriff's Department decided to install video recorders in its entire patrol fleet, becoming one of the first law enforcement agencies in the nation to do so. Most of the cars have now been outfitted with the cameras, and so far the program is being hailed as a powerful tool in both the courtroom and out in the field.

Dear Vicki: I heard on the news that a local hospital has forbidden the use of video cameras in the delivery room. The justification was something about people getting in the way of the medical staff while trying to make a good home movie. Vicki, I love my birth videos; they are tasteful, and my husband stayed well out of the way. Is this prohibition as stupid as I think it is? --READY WHEN YOU ARE MR.

The Police Commission agreed Tuesday to a one-week delay in a plan to select IBM to install video cameras in 300 patrol cars. Another bidder, Panasonic, questioned whether there were hidden costs in its competitor's proposal. The bidding rules require the Police Department to hold a hearing on the protest by Tuesday, when the contract proposal will be back before the commission.

All city police cars will get video cameras later this year when Cypress receives $108,000 in new state aid to law enforcement. After a hearing on the issue, the City Council voted unanimously Monday night to use most of the state money for the video cameras, which Police Chief Daryl Wicker estimated will cost $6,000 for each of the 14 police cars--a total of $84,000. Wicker said the cameras will allow officers to record important evidence at the scenes of crimes.

The Police Department could save $3 million annually by installing video cameras in every police car to record civilian contacts instead of having officers write and read field data reports, Police Chief William J. Bratton said in a report Friday. In arguing that such cameras are cost-effective, Bratton said they would also make it easier to resolve complaints of officer misconduct and would cut down on investigative costs. The city has applied for a grant to install the cameras.

What will you be doing at 9 p.m. Wednesday night? If you were fascinated by the meteor that streaked across the Russian sky last month -- briefly outshining the sun -- then you should plan to watch "Nova" on PBS.  Wednesday's episode of the excellent science documentary series is devoted to the bizarre case of what's come to be known as the Chelyabinsk meteor (named for the Siberian city it passed over).  For those who need a brief refresher course, this huge space rock originated in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter and somehow wound up orbiting the sun in a trajectory that put it on a collision course with Earth.

NEW YORK - Brandon Woodard checked out of his midtown Manhattan hotel room Monday afternoon and emerged onto 58th Street a block from Columbus Circle. As the 31-year-old Playa Vista man walked down the street, a man standing near a Lincoln sedan pulled a hood over his head as Woodard passed. A short time later, the two passed each other a second time. The man turned, pulled out a gun and shot Woodard at close range in the back of the head with a 9-millimeter pistol. He got back into the Lincoln, which pulled away.

At least five Los Angeles police officers are under investigation in the death of a woman who stopped breathing during a struggle that included an officer stomping on her genital area and the use of additional force by others to take her into custody, police officials confirmed Thursday. The altercation in front of her South Los Angeles apartment was captured by a patrol car's video camera. When asked by The Times about the incident, LAPD Cmdr. Bob Green confirmed that one officer, while trying to get Alesia Thomas into the back of a patrol car, threatened to kick Thomas in the genitals if she did not comply, and then followed through on her threat.

A Los Angeles County commission investigating jail abuse heard tearful testimony Monday from clergy and civilian monitors who worked in the lockups and said they witnessed deputies assaulting inmates and bullying witnesses to keep quiet. One jail monitor broke down as she recounted being intimidated by a deputy whom she said saw beat an unconscious inmate. A weeping jail chaplain described deputies calling him a rat after he reported another beating. In one case, a clergy member said he was told by gang member inmates that jailers had targeted them in retribution for the slaying of a deputy by members of their gang on the outside.

Before the launch of a top-secret spy satellite from Vandenberg Air Force Base, a fleet of small drones will be doing some spying of their own. In yet another use of robotic aircraft, RQ-11 Raven drones equipped with high-powered video cameras will fly around the craggy launch site northwest of Santa Barbara, scouring the ground below to ensure that the area is clear for blastoff. "Public safety is our first priority during launch operations, " said Staff Sgt. Brandon Johnson, who is a Raven operator and crime prevention officer.

French investigators Thursday were trying to establish whether a gunman killed by police after a 32-hour siege had accomplices still at large or was a lone assassin acting out his own bitter agenda. They also want to determine how Mohamed Merah, 23, amassed an arsenal of weapons while reportedly under surveillance by France's intelligence services after he spent time with Islamic extremists in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Merah, who police say confessed to gunning down seven people in a nine-day rampage and told them he was linked to a fringe Al Qaeda group, died late Thursday morning with a shot to the head after battling the French equivalent of a SWAT team.

Eastman Kodak, the company that invented the digital camera in 1975, is shutting down its digital camera business. Kodak, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last month, announced on Thursday that it would stop making digital photo cameras, as well as pocket-size video cameras and digital photo frames. The Rochester, N.Y.-based company, which was a pioneer in bringing photography to consumers worldwide since its founding in 1880, said it's working with retailers to phase out those products by summer.

The bust had all the makings of a major criminal investigation. Ten law enforcement and regulatory agencies dedicated hundreds of hours of personnel to track the suspects. They used high-tech video equipment hidden on a utility pole for round-the-clock surveillance and undercover agents to make covert buys. This wasn't a major narcotics trafficking investigation or an attempt to take out a violent street gang — it was a crackdown on what authorities allege was illegal trafficking of raw goat milk, cheese and yogurt.