Police Take Steps Towards 24/7 Camera 'Patrol'

The George Mason University Police Department is upping security measures on campus, starting with a push towards a manned 24/7 'patrol' of on-campus cameras.
(Photo by Student Media Photography Manager Peter Flint)
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It may not be Big Brother, but "you are being watched." The George Mason University Policy Department is working to establish a 24/7 security operations center, and one of the first projects is the manned 'patrol' of closed-circuit cameras on the Fairfax campus.

On a regular business day, the cameras will be monitored for a total of four hours. Assistant Chief of Police George Ginovsky called this a 'baby step' towards the larger goal of monitoring the cameras 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The footage the cameras collect was previously only used as reference when a crime was reported.

WGMU Program Director Alex Romano ask Ginovsky about the changes in security and the greater move towards the 24/7 security operations center in this excerpt from the station's weekly segment, Ask the Police.