Editor’s Note:
This piece originally appeared in the Mount Hope Monitor (www.theebeehive.org/mounthopemonitor). Both the Horizon and the Monitor are members of the West Bronx News Network (www.thebeehive.org/wbnn)

It might look like something out of a Stars Wars movie, but “Sky Watch,” a mobile surveillance tower that extends to 24-feet in height, is very much for real. It’s been used along the Mexican border to spot illegal immigrants, and the U.S Army has several in Iraq where each model is fitted with M-16 ready gun ports.

Now Sky Watch is coming to a street near you: East Fordham Road to be precise, according to Kevin Harrington, the commanding officer of the 46th Precinct. Eight officers and a sergeant from the 46 have received training, he said.

The manned tower, a hydraulic lift complete with cameras, high-powered spotlights, and tinted, bulletproof windows, will give users – and there’s room for two at a time - an unprecedented view of the borough’s liveliest shopping district.

“[Sky Watch] allows an officer to be above a crowd. It can take the place of two or three or four officers on the ground,” said Howard Schemer, director of sales at New Heights Manufacturing, the Georgia based company behind the venture. “It acts as a deterrent as well as cutting down on illegal activity.”

According to an NYPD  police spokesperson, “Sky Watch gives the police literally the “high ground,” from which to observe street conditions and it is also a potential investigative tool with the ability to capture and record images.. 

So far, the NYPD has purchased a single tower - they cost up to $100,000 each - and is renting two more.  Schemer said he understands the NYPD is planning to buy these two, and two more as well.  One tower has been deployed in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, where it helped cut crime, police say. The other was parked briefly in rapidly gentrifying East Harlem, where, according to a New York Post article, a number of residents were angry that the tower’s sole purpose seemed to be to protect two luxury high rises.

Harrington said he doesn’t know for sure when Sky Watch will arrive at Fordham Road.
The New York Civil Liberties Union has serious concerns about the growing number of these cameras popping up in the city. In Fall 2006, the organization  released a report called “Who’s Watching? Video Camera Surveillance in New York City and the Need for Public Oversight.”

“While we’re told that surveillance devices like Sky Watch help reduce crime, there’s not empirical evidence that suggests this is the case,” said spokesperson Maggie Graham, “The growing proliferation [of these devices] undermines the right to privacy, free speech, expression and association.”

Schemer disagrees. “It’s not about Big Brother watching you,” he said.
“[Sky Watch] is about keeping people safe.”

Only time will tell what Bronx residents think of their lofty new neighbor.