D. C. Police Embedded With Developers to Control Behavior by DesignNicholas West As a result the city is set to get a $1.5 billion luxury facelift: While New York City has become famous as the test site of a militarized total surveillance city known as The Ring of Steel, Washington D.C. offers a prelude to the next level by announcing that police commanders will be part of designing architecture with a goal that crime reduction and behavior management is built into the very fabric of the construction itself. As the Washington Post points out, police recommendations to developers are nothing new, and many builders rightly incorporate security designs bright exterior lighting, for example. However, this is the first open joint effort between developers and police where it is being discussed from the outset that the way things are built can influence the behaviors of criminals and potential victims, much as speed bumps can slow cars. (Nice analogy: cars = humans; and presumably social engineers are the speed bumps that keep us under control.) While the article doesnt allude to the exact security matrix that will be employed for the D.C. project(s), this language echoesMayor Bloombergs announced cooperation with Microsoft to implement pre-crime software for detecting potential criminal or terrorist acts by utilizing smart cameras and license plate readers. There is also mention of the ability to identify whether a radiation alarm was set off by actual radiation, a weapon, or a harmless medical isotope. That indicates that the placement of sensors is also likely. We know from military field testing with programs such asSensorNet, spearheaded by Oak Ridge National Laboratory, that research has been conducted to fully integrate sensors and computing into one overall Internet-like matrix of real-time detection and surveillance. The Department of Defense has a projected budget into the billions being allocated over the long term. Oak Ridge announced in 2004 plans to useTennessee as a test bed,and in 2006 stated that Fort Bragg military base would be turned into aprototypefor Americas future cities withcomprehensive systemsincluding nanotechnologyto integrate safety and security measures . . . into the transportation system, which includes concerns surrounding transportation and commerce in the political, economic, or environmental arenas. (Source) IntelliStreets, which even the Huffington Post calls A Digital Scaffolding For Smart Citieshas gone live in Farmington Hills, Michigan. Huffington Post contributor, W. David Stephenson, downplays the surveillance and data collection applications, while he highlights the standard propaganda of energy savings and disaster detection and prevention that we hear from all Agenda 21-linked programs such as The National Nanotechnology Initiative.25 Federal agencies are signed on to cooperate toward full-scale management of health, safety, and the environment. I would find it very unlikely that a massive development project like the Wharf, within the stronghold of government employees, agents, military defense contractors and power brokers would not consider implementing all of the tech goodies that have been funded in comprehensive plans such astheITS Strategic Research Plan 2010-2014.And the Wharf is merely one of five major projects slated for the coming few years. For full details about what can be expected, and the tech corporations involved, please see the Smartworld series by Julie Beal HERE. Main source for this article: Other resources: Read other articles by Nicholas West HERE. 