FBI murders show that surveillance cameras pose a risk to the police

FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida. – The child porn suspect who killed two South Florida FBI agents this week somehow knew exactly when they were approaching his apartment.

Authorities are investigating whether he may have used his doorbell’s security camera to time his ambush, firing a high-powered rifle through the door as his team approached to search his home and computer.

This is a danger that the police are facing across the country: as external surveillance cameras now protect about half of US homes from criminals, criminals use them to attack police officers who are about to make a raid. Some doorbell cameras even have motion sensors that alert owners when someone approaches 30 meters.

The cameras, combined with the military-style weaponry that many criminals have, make law enforcement offers particularly vulnerable. In such situations, the doors and walls of the house offer no protection, noted Ed Davis, Boston police commissioner from 2006 to 2013.

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“You take a military assault rifle and add to it a surveillance system that allows (the suspect) to identify where the police are when they approach the house – you are an easy target,” said Davis.

The FBI said David Huber, a 55-year-old computer technician with no criminal record, shot agents Laura Schwartzenberger and Daniel Alfin and wounded three others. He then killed himself. The agency did not say whether Huber’s camera had a motion detector, but that may explain why he was waiting for agents on Tuesday before dawn – an hour that police often pick for raids because the suspect is probably asleep.

“A child exploitation suspect, he’ll be on the alert all day – he doesn’t want to be caught because he’s going to be away for a long time,” said New York detective Robert Garland.

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In the 1980s and 1990s, a home with external surveillance cameras used to be a sign that the resident was a drug dealer or criminal, according to Davis and retired SWAT officer David Thomas, now a professor of criminal justice in the Florida Gulf. Coast University. A good system can cost thousands.

“They were the only ones who could afford it,” said Thomas, who worked for the police departments in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Gainesville, Florida.

Davis said these cameras used to be an indication of criminality, and some judges considered their presence when approving police warrant orders.

The cameras were also large and difficult to hide – the police could locate them during pre-attack surveillance and approach accordingly.

But today, a person with technical experience can install security cameras for a few hundred dollars and a good doorbell camera can be purchased for less than $ 200. Many cameras are small and easy to hide.

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Thomas said police tactics often track new technologies and need to be adjusted to deal with doorbell cameras and other home surveillance systems. He said departments could start to have more warrants served by heavily armed tactical units and use amusements, such as breaking a side window before going to the door, to distract the suspect.

Departments can also ask judges to issue more “knock-out” warrants, which allow police officers to break down the door immediately and without warning. This would go against growing calls in some cities to end such warrants after they resulted in the deaths of innocent people.

It was during a preventive arrest warrant that the Louisville, Kentucky police killed Breonna Taylor in her apartment 11 months ago, sparking protests across the country.

“The issue is very complex, but the reality is that there has to be something” for the police to protect themselves, said Thomas.

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Davis said there are some countermeasures that police can take against surveillance cameras, but they are at risk of alerting suspects, especially when they believe an operation is imminent. Some police departments have devices that can block Bluetooth or other radio wave systems that some cameras use to send images to their monitors. And they can cut the house’s power, although many camera systems have backup batteries.

Fulfilling warrants has always been one of the police’s most dangerous tasks, even before sophisticated home security cameras are commonplace. On the Grand Rapids SWAT team, Thomas was the kicker at the door – the policeman who is directly in the line of fire if the suspect is waiting in ambush. He said the door is a particularly dangerous place.

“You never know what you’re waiting for on the other side,” he said.

Davis said the FBI will make a comprehensive report on the shooting. When other agencies receive it, they will examine it so that they can protect their own officers from snipers with security cameras.

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“We need to review – there are lessons to be learned from this terrible tragedy,” said Davis.

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Researcher Rhonda Shafner of the Associated Press News in New York contributed to this report.