POLICE USED HIGH-TECH SURVEILLANCE AT FESTIVAL

Hidden Cameras Helped In Drug Bust

Hidden, high-dollar equipment helped police crack down on drug
dealing at this years Wakarusa Festival.

A new article in a trade journal, Government Security News, describes
the roughly $250,000 worth of hidden-camera, night-vision and
thermal- imaging equipment used by police throughout the festival
grounds. The equipment was courtesy of a California company that
agreed to give a free demonstration of its wares for marketing purposes.

The company estimated that they were able to cover 85 percent of the
festival grounds with about a half dozen hidden cameras. One camera,
for example, was mounted atop a light tower and used on Shakedown
Street, a bustling area viewed as a problem spot for drug dealing.

Its hopefully a win-win for everybody except the crooks, said Mike
McRory, vice president of business development for NS Microwave Inc.,
of Spring Valley, Calif., which markets security and surveillance
equipment and is owned by the defense contractor Allied Defense Group.

The company builds covert cameras disguised as everything from
electrical boxes to birdhouses. Theyre capable of seeing at night as
long as theres some ambient light nearby such as a lantern or fire.

Nobody Knew

Four of its cameras were consistently deployed throughout the
festival, and at least two others were there to be used as needed,
according to the company. The cameras were controlled by a
computerized command center in a 21-foot trailer that was parked atop
a hill in the middle of a Frisbee golf course inside the park.

Nobody knew, said Kevin Danciak, the companys Midwestern sales
representative. It just looked like parabolic dishes on top of a
trailer. The plan to use the cameras came about when Danciak ran into
Clinton State Park manager Jerry Schecher at a Kansas narcotics
officers meeting early this year or late last year. Danciak was there
to promote his equipment. Schecher was looking for answers to growing
concerns about drug dealing at the festival, which was heading into
its third year and was growing in popularity. Had there not been a
strong move this year by law enforcement to control the situation,
Schecher said, the state would not have allowed the festival to continue.

This is a crowd that has a high expectation of privacy and freedom,
and I respect that, within limits, Schecher said. I struggled with
this a little bit, but I felt like we were doing it for the right
reasons. If it was meant to be Big Brother and spying on people, I
wouldnt have done it. One festivalgoer said the hidden cameras were a
shame and kind of embarrassing. I feel like it was really a big
mistake because people at a festival are trying to have a good time
and let loose. I would be willing to bet that most people wouldnt be
OK with that had they known, Ali Mangan said.

She said law enforcement should have at leased publicized the hidden
cameras. The surveillance was conducted at the expense of the privacy
of people not selling drugs, Mangan said.

Safer Means

The main things the cameras captured, Danciak said, were hand-to-hand
drug transactions and drug use. After zooming into an area where drug
sales were happening, police could then send an officer in to make an
undercover buy that was caught on camera.

We could see if there was a problem and then address it rather than
just having to focus all of our foot patrols or enforcement in that
area all of the time, Schecher said.

Danciak said the result was a safer way of busting drug deals. No
fighting, no running, no guns drawn, nothing, he said. It was just,
You pop around the corner, youre there, you identify yourself and you
see people just deflate.

He declined comment on whether the cameras covered the festival stage
areas or campground areas outside the festival.

At least a month before the festival began, Schecher said, promoter
Brett Mosiman was notified of the plan for security cameras. Mosiman
did not return phone calls Thursday seeking comment.

The cameras presence was not publicized in the Lawrence area before
or after the festival.

The article in Government Security News said the images produced were
so good that some alleged dealers entered pleas based on the strength
of that evidence.

But Dist. Atty. Charles Branson, whose office is charged with
prosecuting the cases, said he did not know of any cases in which
that happened.

Many of those arrested at the festival were allowed to plead to lower
charges in a massive docket call a few days after the hearing.

Police seized more than $11,000 in suspected drug money, but some of
that came outside the festival grounds in a Kansas Highway Patrol checkpoint.

Lt. Kari Wempe, of the Douglas County Sheriffs Office, the lead
agency at the festival, said the camera system worked well.

It gave a good overall aerial view of the grounds, which we would not
have had otherwise, she said.

But so far, she said, the sheriff has no plans to buy any of the
companys equipment. Schecher said he would like to use a similar
system at the park in the future, perhaps for catching people who try
to break into pay stations, but not necessarily for next years festival.

Kevin has nice toys, but theyre expensive, he said.