'Super' Zoom Surveillance Cams Used At Orlando Fireworks Show For First Time

Local 6 News
Friday July 6, 2007

For the first time, Orlando police used high-tech surveillance cameras with the ability to zoom in on individual faces from great distances to monitor this year's Fourth of July festivities, Local 6 News has learned.Seven cameras were strategically set up around Lake Eola to continually monitor every angle of the event.

"If something does look out of the ordinary, we can focus in and zoom in on it," an unidentified officer said. "If there is an area of interest we would like to look at, we have the capability for a very high level of zoom."

"A camera mounted on the back of the band shell can pick up faces all the way across the lake," Local 6's Erik von Ancken said.

Police said they had the park covered by cameras and patrol officers.

"People are nervous, but that is why we have so many officers out here," Orlando police Capt. Larry Zweig said.

Local 6 also reported that the idea of high-tech cameras may make some people nervous.

However, war veteran Michael Moody told Local 6 News that he appreciated the cameras and unseen security at the Orlando celebration and that it reminded him of what the U.S. Army uses in Iraq.

"I understand what the soldiers abroad are going through because I've been there on a couple of occasions," Moody said. "I feel as though the sacrifices they are making make this kind of thing possible."

Orlando police said they recorded every image captured by the cameras. They said the footage will be held for a week in case they must investigate crimes that have not been reported yet.