The Metropolitan Police Department will have the help of its bank of security cameras as it takes on two challenging events this week: the annual Right to Life march and the State of the Union address.
Starting at 7 a.m. today, the MPD will activate its Joint Operations Command Center and its network of 19 closed-circuit television cameras “as a routine public safety measure” for the annual March for Life rally. The annual event draws thousands of protesters and counterprotesters to D.C. on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion.
The cameras, mounted on buildings throughout the National Mall and downtown, will be deactivated following the march and then turned on again at 3 p.m. Tuesday for President Bush’s State of the Union address, which starts at 9 p.m. on Capitol Hill. The cameras are separate from the 48 neighborhood-based crime cameras, a tool approved by the D.C. Council last summer after former Police Chief Charles Ramsey declared a crime emergency.
Images are transmitted to the Joint Operations Command Center over a wireless network.
