Smart cameras to watch Mexican border

Intelligent cameras, already used on the northern border, will be at critical entry points from Mexico

The Bureau of Customs and Border Protection is expanding its use of intelligent video cameras to include the Mexican border in addition to the Canadian border.

In May, the Homeland Security Department began installing the state-of-the-art surveillance technology by ObjectVideo along the Canadian border. Now the company's Video Early Warning (VEW) software will be installed at critical points in California and Arizona.

The program enhances traditional video surveillance, allowing software to detect and analyze potential threats captured on video in real time. ObjectVideo's application can use artificial intelligence to pick out people, trucks, boats or other objects and then check their behavior against programmed rules. For example, it would be able to single out a small boat that loiters too long near an anchored Naval vessel.

"The goal is to secure that large piece of real estate that runs thousands of miles," said Clara Conti, ObjectVideo's chief executive officer. "We believe the addition of VEW will enhance security along our borders in unprecedented ways."

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