On-Line Real-Time Crime Busting

Yah, so Wauwatosa's cop-shop has a genuinely 21st-century technology onstream.

Internet-based cameras are nothing new. But Wauwatosa police believe they are the first law-enforcement agency in Wisconsin to link them to their dispatch computers, allowing dispatchers and patrol officers to see what's going on inside an address en route to a 911 call.

"If there's a robbery with a gun, the dispatcher can send that image to the squad," said Wauwatosa police Capt. Jeff Reit, who has spearheaded the department's technology advances. "In a fire, we can see if it's flames or smoke."

For those of you who enjoy irony of the first water, get this:

Owner Linda Burg isn't expecting trouble at the Little Read Book store at 7603 W. State St. But she, and the police, are ready if it shows.

Burg and the Wauwatosa Police Department are testing a new camera and surveillance system that lets the shopkeeper check in from anywhere, anytime over the Internet...

Heh. She's bright--the name of the store (pronounced correctly) tells you a lot about the nature of the books she sells there. Yup. Lefty. REALLY Lefty. So all that "personal privacy and freedom" stuff...where'd that go?