"This week on VICE, the future of policing is tested in Camden, New Jersey." "People want cameras in their community." "I have yet to have a resident stand up and say," ""I want this thing out of here."" "♪ Fuck the cops, ya heard?" "♪" "♪ Catch me if you can, I'm the gingerbread man ♪" "And then, the forgotten genocide in Darfur." "Move that camera, eh?" "Right in the center." "We've been on patrol for, like, 10 minutes right now, and already there's been a drug bust." "It can feel like we're just in a little village on the side of a hill." "Then suddenly, it's a pretty immediate show of force." "Camden, New Jersey, is one of the most violent and crime-ridden cities in the country." "On top of that, it's one of the poorest cities in America." "In fact, the city was so broke in 2011 that they had to lay off nearly half their police force, leaving a crime- and drug-infested city of close to 80,000 residents to be patrolled by as few as 12 cops at a time." "In 2013, things got so desperate that Governor Chris Christie stepped in to support a complete takeover of the police with a new regional force, known simply as Metro." "This new tactical police force employed military style patrols and adopted cutting-edge 21st-century computer and surveillance technology." "So we sent Vikram Gandhi to Camden, New Jersey, to report on this ongoing experiment in modern-day policing." "It's midnight in the murder capital of America, and out here, the cops can track our every move." "This may be the future of American policing." "913." "There's not too many other cars besides cop cars here." "Pretty much every block or so we go, it's going to be one of the areas where we have arrested people multiple times." "♪ Fuck the cops, ya heard?" "♪" "♪ Catch me if you can, I'm the gingerbread man ♪" "Fuck y'all." "Suck my dick." "Camden, New Jersey, has the highest crime rate in America with a murder rate that's 12 times the national average." "Over a quarter billion dollars worth of drugs flows through this city every year, and 80% of the homicides are directly related to narcotics." "We've been on patrol for, like, 10 minutes right now in North Camden, and already there's been a drug bust." "GP-2490 to all units." "Call 5..." "The cityscape of Camden is littered with abandoned homes... many of which are used as stash houses, junkie shooting galleries, or ghetto brothels." "You see the paraphernalia?" "This house was probably used at one point as a stash house." "The cops say that they often find dead bodies in buildings like this." "It smells like a combination of mold, shit, and vomit." "You can actually see some shit in here on the floor." "So to combat this out-of-control crime," "Camden County Metro has made two major changes." "They've drastically increased foot patrols on the street, but they've also covered over 2/3 of the entire city with new, cutting-edge, military-grade surveillance technology, and we weren't with the cops for long" "before we got a chance to see this 21st-century policing in action." "20." "11-0-3-7." "Oh." "What's going on?" "We got a ShotSpotter activation." "ShotSpotter is a tracking system of hidden microphones that covers 75% of the city." "It instantly triangulates gunshots, detecting them within 3 meters of a firing location." "In Camden, the average police response time is 3 1/2 minutes, about 3 times faster than the national average." "So, what, the ShotSpotter said that it was..." "At this location right here right at the middle of the street." "It actually got so close that it told us it was in the middle of the street?" "Correct." "It's never wrong." "It's always on point." "It's always on point?" "Yeah, yeah." "It'll tell you what type of gun, if it's a shotgun or high-power rifle, a handgun." "We got to make sure nobody's hit." "Is there any visual of this area that you guys had with the cameras?" "We had visual on Mount Ephraim that we can spot, and we can see if any cars were coming through, and I'm pretty sure they're looking at that upstairs right now in the RT-TOIC." "OK." "RT-TOIC stands for Real Time Tactical Operations Intelligence Center, the hub where all this high-tech equipment is run and monitored from." "Police Chief Scott Thomson gave us a tour." "Tell me what's going on in here." "So within our RT-TOIC here, we have 6 different technologies that are merged into one singular platform." "Everything that we do here is underpinned with the ideology of preventing crime." "Chief Thomson then showed us how the ShotSpotter works from the command center." "Is it possible to find the record of 6 rounds that were shot the other night?" "We have two bullet holes were found through a vacant house." "We also have our camera system." "As you can see, we have the entire city covered." "This is a common area in which virtually any time you drive by it there's people that are standing on the corner." "A lot of times, people are ordering food from inside." "That's where the system comes in handy, and we know that if they've been standing there since 8:00 in the morning that's quite a long time to be waiting for a hoagie to be put together." "Yeah, yeah." "Literally, on any given day, thousands of people are coming into the city to buy drugs." "So within our technologies here, we have our license plate reader system, which can capture dozens of license plates in a matter of a second." "90% of our drug buyers that are coming into the city are coming from the suburban communities surrounding us." "We happen to capture them on camera, we send a letter to the registered owner of the vehicle to let them know, "Hey, your vehicle" ""was observed engaging in what appeared to be illegal drug activity."" "Kind of a holistic approach to interdict these individuals coming in to buy drugs." "But what do the people who are living under the watch of Metro's cameras really think?" "To find out, we met up with Camden-based musician Lyric Lee, who introduced us to some of those living on the other side of the law." "What are you drinking there?" "What is that?" "That's the cocktail?" "With Sprite?" "What's a day for all of you guys like?" "What do you do every day here?" "Now that they have this new police force, are you guys nervous?" "They can suck my dick." "The police scanner app?" "So you guys actually listen to that if you're on the corner to know, to know where the cops are?" "Riding along with Metro the next day, we found out that dealers in Camden have, in fact, adapted in a number of different ways to the new technology." "Can you tell me about how you've seen drug activity change in the last year?" "We're seeing a lot of people beginning to sell from houses." "It's a little bit difficult to make an arrest." "Whereas when you're watching a drug deal on the street, you can just make the arrest right there." "Now that drug dealers have taken their business indoors to escape the cameras, cops have intensified tracking pedestrians, looking for patterns or people who look out of place like this kid here from one of the neighboring wealthy suburbs." "What brings you down here?" "Nothing else brings you out here?" "Listen." "We know the area as good as anybody." "When I see you on the corner, it's a little suspicious." "Do you understand that?" "We're going to take your information, and you're going to head on your way, right?" "You're not going to be around here, right?" "I would appreciate that." "But if I catch you around here in the same area" "I keep seeing you in, I'm gonna have to give you loitering." "You understand that?" "All right." "Take it easy, partner." "Detective Nuñez is engaging two people." "He's gonna see if they're from this area, if they belong there." "I'm just going to go help him out, make sure he's all right." "What are you guys doing?" "Just hanging out?" "This is your cousin?" "OK, all right." "Well, you know, we're just checking you out." "You know, there's a drug set right here." "We just got to make sure you guys all good, you know?" "Hi, my man." "Can you..." "All right." "Apparently there's cameras there." "I think that's a camera right there." "Do you guys ever feel like you're being watched?" "This lack of freedom felt by locals like these is a point we brought up back in the chief's office." "Where's the line?" "I mean, there's things as Americans that we appreciate about having freedom." "Where do you see the line is that it goes too far?" "I mean, it's a legitimate concern, that we're well aware of, but where we're leveraging this technology is where we've got the lawful right to stand and be." "People want cameras in their community." "I have yet to have a resident in a meeting stand up and say, "I want this thing out of here."" "In fact, I get the complete opposite." "I get people coming forward and saying to me," ""When can we get our camera?"" "Reverend Edgardo Garcia is happy to have this new technology in his neighborhood." "Normally in this neighborhood, what would you see?" "Drug users or drug dealers?" "But not everyone thinks the cameras are a godsend." "We spoke to surveillance expert Stephen Rushin about the potential downsides of constant public monitoring." "What makes surveillance most effective is also what makes surveillance most dangerous." "What makes it most effective is making it omnipotent, making it ever present, but it's that same necessary element that also raises significant privacy concerns." "Virtually every single data piece acquired by the state and retained for years after the fact was acquired on someone who did nothing wrong, entirely innocent people." "Those who get targeted via this type of surveillance are disproportionately going to be poor minorities, and that might lead to a continual problem in criminal justice." "The disproportionate use of the criminal justice system against poor and racial minorities." "And a lot of people in Camden do feel targeted, that their rights are being violated, and they are getting angry about it." "They forget about the Constitution, like they'll tell you, "If I see you walk" ""down this block, I'm gonna lock you up and charge you with loitering."" "How can you loiter when you walking?" "There's kids that want to play in this park, too." "There's regular people that want to enjoy the day." "It's nice out today, so motherfuckers want to come kick it." "They want to come chill out." "That could be a crime to them, you know what I mean?" "So there's walking while being white and then standing while being black?" "Yeah." "Ha ha ha!" "Yeah." "So what's to stop the police from abusing this technology?" "We spoke to José Cordero, a former NYPD Inspector who helped develop Camden's surveillance system." "There are a number of safeguards that we took, right?" "Transparency is one." "That's why you see these very huge screens where everyone can see within the monitoring room what a video monitor is watching." "We always advise that you meet a certain threshold, at least reasonable suspicion, before you're able to track someone." "To be clear, these are only suggestions, and the transparency he's talking about is only within the confines of the police department and the command center itself." "To date, there are no uniform guidelines or independent oversight whatsoever." "Everything is at the discretion of the police." "We have 18,000 police departments." "That means we have potentially up to 18,000 different policies on how to regulate the retention of the data after it's acquired." "The common adage is that if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to worry about." "History shows us that nothing could be further from the truth." "There have been allegations in New York City monitoring mosques." "There have been allegations in San Francisco, allegations in the UK of, again, monitoring of unpopular political minorities, and that's a concern that every single person should worry about." "Despite the sociological implications, this type of system does work in lowering crime rates." "In fact, Camden's surveillance model was first implemented in East Orange, New Jersey, where they saw a 50% decrease in crime over 3 years." "Here in Camden, they saw a 14% drop in crime within the first 6 months, and the success of these test cases are leading to adoption of similar surveillance programs across the country, and this is just the beginning." "Lots of new cutting-edge technologies have hit the market such as a facial recognition software that works in conjunction with surveillance cameras." "Police surveillance and the development of surveillance technologies is inevitable." "The question is to what extent we as citizens are going to demand that the use of that technology is heavily regulated by the state, national, or local governments." "Do you want to live in a world where all of your public movements could potentially be recorded, accessible for years after the fact?" "No question, they have very strong potential criminological benefits, but they come at a social cost." "Put your hands on your head for me, boss." "Is Camden a police state?" "Nah, not at all." "What is actually, then, a police state?" "A police state would be an environment where the neighborhoods become essentially militarized, the movement and the freedoms of the people are restricted and constantly regulated by police." "Police approving what takes place, when it takes place, and that certainly isn't the case of what we're doing here." "Hey, ladies, do me a favor." "Don't hang on the corner." "The genocide in Darfur is one of the worst humanitarian disasters of the modern era." "The conflict, which started in 2003, has claimed at least 200,000 lives, and over 2.5 million people have been forced to flee from their homes." "At its outset, this conflict garnered global attention." "We're here because we want the rest of the world to put pressure on the government of Khartoum." "We want them to support you." "And as a consequence in a rare example of bipartisan agreement, both presidents Bush and Obama agreed that something had to be done." "I've called this massive violence an act of genocide because no other word captures the extent of this tragedy." "This is the awful legacy of conflict in Sudan." "The past that must not become Sudan's future." "In 2009, the International Criminal Court indicted." "Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity." "However, to this day, he not only remains in power, but continues to wage war on his people." "Last year alone, over half a million people were forced to flee the ongoing violence." "So we sent Ben Anderson to see what's become of this forgotten war." "So we've just arrived at the first ever refugee camp in Chad, set up over 10 years ago now, as we're suddenly surrounded by thousands of kids, but then you realize that most of them have probably never been to their country of origin." "The kids have spent their entire lives in these refugee camps because the slaughter in Sudan has now been going on for over 11 years." "Despite all of our pledges, very little has changed." "5 years ago, it felt like the world's attention was focused on Sudan and the refugees, and then they forgot about it." "Is the situation today as bad as it was then?" "That's how much sugar you get for one month?" "Wow." "Although billions were raised, including roughly 3.5 billion from the American public alone, funding is now drying up and leaving the refugees on the brink of starvation." "So they used to get enough food to provide 2,100 calories per person here, and that's now been cut." "They're now getting enough food for just 900 calories per person." "That's roughly the same as two medium portions of fries from McDonald's." "That's it." "How long have you been here?" "And what do you think the chances are that you'll ever be able to go home?" "How many children here are malnourished now?" "60 or 70 malnourished kids are coming here every day?" "Are there children dying of nutrition-- malnutrition here?" "The head of the United Nations Commission on Refugees in Chad told us how the situation has deteriorated over the past decade." "But your budget has been reduced by half?" "And why is that?" "As bad as life is in the camps, it's worse in Darfur." "We met the most recent refugee to make the perilous journey across the border." "He only agreed to speak to us if we hid his identity." "And yet the man responsible for this hell," "President Bashir, remains in power." "With the international community continuing to do nothing, the various and fragmented rebel groups within Sudan have formed an alliance." "I traveled to South Kordofan, an area next to Darfur, to see how much of a threat to Bashir they pose." "I know that JEM has fighters from Kordofan, northern Sudan, but you are mostly from Darfur." "Why are you now fighting in South Kordofan?" "And so the goal is to overthrow Bashir so you can solve the problems of all of Sudan and not just Darfur?" "But militarily, the government outnumber you and outgun you, so how can you succeed when you are so outnumbered?" "General Bakr showed me what these techniques were and why the rebels think they'll win." "This is like a battering ram." "Is that like a suicide attack?" "One of your men has an Obama T-shirt on." "Ha ha ha!" "What do JEM think of Obama?" "I think that's what lots of people say about Obama." "Salaam Alaikum." "So you think it's just a small little army." "Then you just see endless trucks with massive heavy weaponry on the back." "How many RPGs?" "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13-- 15 RPGs strapped to the side of this truck." "How do they know how to use this?" "So this is their ammunition and fuel storage." "Before we've even walked in, I can see 7 rockets." "I've got no idea what these are." "Stolen from the Sudan Government?" "Yeah?" "So I think they've got several trucks full of ammunition." "Whoa!" "Yeah full, full, right to the top." "You can fire this?" "The rebels had acquired an astounding array of weaponry, almost all of which was stolen from their enemy, the Sudanese government." "So as they're opening the boxes and showing me everything they captured, I realize I'm standing on about, 20, 25 of those huge 122-millimeter rockets that we saw on the ground." "Russian SAM missiles?" "And usually with anti-aircraft missiles like this, lots of people, particularly in the U.S." "get very, very worried." "Is that these could be used to shoot down civilian airliners, causing hundreds of casualties." "I hadn't really thought about it before, but one of the major disadvantages of having a very well armed but not very well committed army, like the Sudanese army is supposed to be, is that if the going gets a bit tough," "your men could end up fleeing and leaving all your best stuff to your opponents." "Not only are they gaining more weapons, but they're also growing in confidence." "Recently two of the allied rebel groups fought off a huge government assault." "There's just shells, bullet casings everywhere." "Destroyed buildings all around us-- several destroyed tanks and armored personnel carriers." "Jesus." "So they didn't just hit the tank." "It looks like they blew the entire turret off." "How many tanks and vehicles and soldiers came here?" "And how many of you was there?" "So they outnumbered you two to one roughly?" "How many bodies buried here?" "When were you last home?" "You haven't been home for 11 years?" "Could you stay another 11 years away from your home?" "How long before you think you will be marching on Khartoum?" "Within 6 months." "So there's over 100 trucks here." "Most of them have got heavy weaponry on the back, anti-aircraft, anti-tank guns." "This is a serious show of force." "Besides the standing army, JEM are also training a batch of new recruits." "As the world ignores Bashir's crimes, more and more people in Sudan are coming to accept that they are the only ones who are willing to act." "Not long ago, everyone agreed that Omar al-Bashir needed to be stopped and held accountable for his crimes, but despite all the talk, it looks like the only way this will finally happen is all-out civil war and further suffering for the people of Sudan."