Police in San Diego have used spying rigs in streetlights at least 140 times and are pushing for more of the public spying contraptions.
The ShotSpotter devices also contain a microphone which may capture conversations on a public street in real time.
According to the San Diego Union Tribune, over 100 officers have access to the video and audio recorded on public streets and up to 1,800 officers can request these records.
Currently, the city of San Diego has 3,200 streetlight surveillance units and expects to add an additional 1,000 by next summer.
A reporter known as MassPrivateI has compiled a list of other technologies used by police to spy on the population.
Police are also using streetlamps equipped with things like Smart Nodes and secret facial recognition cameras to identify Bluetooth devices and people. More recently, he warned everyone that law enforcement is using GE’s CityIQ street lights and Intellistreets to identify people. (Click here to learn more about SKYEYE streetlamps.)
As always, remember Big Brother is watching you. Perhaps from something as benign as a streetlight.