12May/100
Portland Mayor Sam Adams Fires Police Chief Rosie Sizer
Just two days after Portland Police Chief, Rosie Sizer, publicly criticized the Mayor's proposed budget she has been removed from the Chief's job and replaced by former East Precinct Commander, Mike Reese. In addition to removing the Chief, Mayor Adams also transferred authority for the police bureau from City Commissioner, Dan Saltzman, directly to the Mayor's office.The Portland Police Bureau received negative national attention recently after several unarmed people were killed by police. The oldest incident in recent memory resulted in a $1.6 million wrongful death settlement between the city and the family of James Chasse.
According the Oregonian, Mayor Adams said that he wishes to take the Police Bureau in "a new and different direction." Read the Oregonian article here: http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2010/05/sam_adams_calls_noon_news_conf.html Reliant Security is based in Portland, OR and provides security solutions for clients throughout the western United States. Sincerely, Matthew Cooper, CPP VP Reliant Security
6May/100
“Smart Dust” Will Revolutionize Security Monitoring
The first steps towards building a "Central Nervous System for the Earth" are about to be taken by Hewlett-Packard (HP) according to a recent article on CNN. See the article here: http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/05/03/smart.dust.sensors/index.html The concept for an easily distributable system of rice sized sensors is attributed to the thinking of UC Berkley computer scientist, Kris Pister. Pister imagined these sensors, which he named "smart dust," would eventually be sprinkled across the globe to provide real-time monitoring of everything from traffic to ecosystem health. An HP researcher has announced plans to distribute 1 million sensors over six square miles to aid Royal Dutch Shell in oil exploration by monitoring rock vibrations and movement. The HP sensors are about the size of a matchbook and are encased in an enclosure the size of an old VHS tape. That is bigger than a grain of rice but we all remember what the first cell phones looked like, right? http://www.oaktreeent.com/web_photos/Telephones/SouthWestern_Bell_Motorola_Brick_Cell_phone_web.jpg The article does not devote much time to the potential security monitoring applications of this technology but the possibilities are endless. Rather than waiting for a motion detection system to detect someone who has already entered a building, a company could deploy sensors (with cameras) that would observe a person's movements from the moment they walked onto the campus. One can easily imagine what a boon this could be to the security monitoring industry. In the future, in addition to dispatching guards to investigate unusual vibrations along the fence line, the central station might also dispatch maintenance based on an alarm that tells them that the flowers need watering.
Reliant Security provides real-time security solutions to clients throughout the western United States.
Sincerely, Matthew Cooper, CPP VP Reliant Security