25 miners killed in West Virginia explosion

Four are missing in the nation's worst mine disaster since 1984. The facility had been repeatedly cited for dangerous conditions.

By Bob Drogin and Nicole Santa Cruz

April 6, 2010

Reporting from Los Angeles and Washington

Twenty-five miners were killed Monday after a coal mine explosion deep in the rugged hills of West Virginia, marking the worst U.S. mine disaster since 1984 and raising questions about safety precautions at one of the nation's largest coal producers.

The search for survivors at the Upper Big Branch mine was called off early Tuesday morning, although four miners remained unaccounted for, according to Jeff Gillenwater, spokesman for Massey Energy Co., the mine owner.

Distraught families and others in the tight-knit Appalachian mining community wept and hugged nearby as rescue teams penetrated the deep shafts and dark tunnels, and as the death toll steadily rose through the long night.

The explosion about 3 p.m. Monday had disabled communication lines, including wireless systems, inside the vast underground complex, officials said.

Officials had raised hopes during the day that many of the missing miners might have used emergency escape routes to reach specially reinforced, airtight chambers that are stocked with food, water and air about a mile and a half below ground. If so, the sites could sustain them for several days.

Officials said they didn't yet know the cause of the accident. But federal mine safety and health officials have repeatedly cited Massey, one of the nation's largest coal producers, and the mine's operator for potentially dangerous conditions, including venting of combustible methane gas.

Violations in recent weeks include cracking and collapsing of mine walls on Feb. 21; ventilation problems on March 17, March 23 and March 30; drill dust on March 25; and inadequate air quality on March 23; according to U.S. records.

In the last year, federal inspectors have fined the company more than $382,000 for repeated serious violations involving its ventilation plan and equipment at the mine, the Associated Press reported.

At least nine mine rescue teams, state and federal officials, and distraught families had converged on the Appalachian mining town of Montcoal, about 30 miles south of Charleston, the state capital.

Elizabeth Pellegrin, a spokeswoman for the Charleston Area Medical Center, said one miner was flown in by helicopter at 6 p.m.

The miner was in intensive care, she said, and doctors were preparing for other patients.

"We're hoping for more," Pellegrin said.

The mine employs about 200 people, but not all would have been underground on the afternoon shift.

President Obama offered his condolences to the families of the miners, according to the White House.

The president spoke by phone Monday night with Gov. Joe Manchin III and offered federal assistance in the rescue.

"For those families who are still waiting for news on their missing loved ones, I want them to know that we are doing everything possible in cooperation with federal officials and the company to get our miners out as quickly and safely as possible," Manchin said in a statement released by his office.

"We are all working diligently together and I ask that everyone pray for the miners, their families and our rescue teams," he added.

Earlier in the evening, Don Blankenship, Massey Energy's chairman and chief executive, confirmed seven deaths "with a heavy heart."

He said the company would not release the names until next-of-kin were notified.

"Our top priority is the safety of our miners and the well-being of their families," Blankenship said in a statement.

"We are working diligently on rescue efforts and continue to partner with all of the appropriate agencies.

"Our prayers go out to the families of the miners. We want to assure the families of all the miners we are taking every action possible to locate and rescue those still missing," he said.

Kevin Stricklin, administrator for coal mine safety and health in the U.S. Department of Labor, told the Associated Press that seven men apparently were killed while riding out of the mine on a vehicle, and that two other men aboard the vehicle were injured.

Stricklin said officials don't believe the roof collapsed.

Jeff Gray, director of emergency services with the Central West Virginia Chapter of the American Red Cross, said officials were scrambling to get medical and mental health services to the site.

"It's a very rural area," he said.

About seven miles from the mine, the First Baptist Church in Whitesville prepared sandwiches, hot dogs and soda for grieving families Monday evening, said Dennis Dye, a church deacon.

"We're prepared for them to come and we want them to come," he said.

The mine, operated by Massey subsidiary Performance Coal Co., produced 1.2 million tons of coal in 2009, according to the Mine Safety and Health Administration.

Massey Energy says on its website that it has an above-average safety record, with three fatalities at the Upper Big Branch mine in the last 12 years.

In 1998, a miner was killed when a support beam failed and dropped bags of cement mix onto him, according to the federal Mine Safety & Health Administration. Federal investigators blamed poor welding and construction.

Another miner died there in 2001 when part of the mine's roof collapsed, and an electrician was accidentally electrocuted while repairing a shuttle car in 2003.

Massey Energy is a publicly traded company based in Richmond, Va. It has 2.2 billion tons of coal reserves in southern West Virginia, eastern Kentucky, southwest Virginia and Tennessee, according to the company's website.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-wva-mine6-2010apr06,0,203778,print.story

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Obama nuclear weapons manifesto is detailed

The Nuclear Posture Review will announce reductions in the number of warheads and further limit their use. It reportedly will not rule out their deployment for offensive purposes.

By Paul Richter

April 5, 2010

Reporting from Washington

The Obama administration is releasing a major statement on nuclear weapons policy that will herald a further shrinking of the U.S. arsenal, even as it rejects some sweeping steps advocated by arms control advocates.

The statement, to be released Tuesday, will announce that the arsenal will shrink by thousands of warheads, and it will further restrict when the weapons may be used, U.S. officials say. But the administration has rejected proposals to declare that the "sole purpose" of nuclear arms is deterrence, nor will it promise that the United States won't be the first to use nuclear weapons in a war, say people who have been close to the discussions.

The document, called the Nuclear Posture Review, is an important part of President Obama's program to reduce nuclear arms, which moves into a higher gear in the next few days. Obama will sign a U.S.-Russian arms treaty in Prague, the Czech capital, on Thursday and will host a nuclear security summit in Washington next week.

His review is expected to omit some of the more hawkish statements made in 2001 in President George W. Bush's review.

The Bush document said the United States might in some circumstances use nuclear weapons against countries that didn't have them. It said the United States should consider preemptive strikes against countries developing chemical, biological or nuclear weapons.

Monday night, the White House released an outline of the review, saying it "focuses on preventing nuclear terrorism and proliferation and reducing the role of nuclear weapons in our national security strategy, while sustaining a safe, secure and effective nuclear deterrent."

In his effort to persuade other nations to forswear nuclear arms, Obama must show that his administration is also moving away from them. Obama has said he will "reduce the role of nuclear weapons in our national security strategy."

Arms control advocates who have been following the discussion say they view the nuclear manifesto as a positive step but not as bold as they might have wished.

Tom Collina, research director of the Arms Control Assn., said other countries would be encouraged to hear that the administration had decided for now not to develop a new nuclear warhead. He said, however, that he thought some nations would be distressed that the U.S. was unwilling to declare that nuclear arms were solely meant to deter nuclear attacks.

The document will point to the new U.S.-Russian arms treaty to show progress in reducing the United States' arsenal. The administration says the treaty will scale back the number of deployed long-range warheads by 30%, though some analysts believe the cuts may actually be much smaller.

The review is widely expected to announce additional reductions from the estimated 2,000 nuclear weapons held in reserve.

The document is expected to announce that the Pentagon will retire the Tomahawk Land Attack Missile, a ship- and submarine-launched cruise missile that has been in storage. But it is expected to leave unresolved the issue of whether to retire the estimated 200 tactical, or battlefield, nuclear weapons that are based in Europe.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-fg-obama-nuclear6-2010apr06,0,4181815,print.story

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Preparing yourself for the Big One

Here are some tips for preparing yourself for an earthquake:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/

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Probe of restaurant shooting that killed 4 stymied by conflicting accounts, LAPD sources say

LAPD detectives were struggling with conflicting accounts and an undetermined motive in the killing of four people over the weekend at a Valley Village restaurant .

Law enforcement sources told The Times that detectives are skeptical about some of the accounts given by witnesses at the restaurant and are still not sure whether there was one or two gunmen.

Detectives aren't sure how many people were at the restaurant at the time because some customers apparently fled before police arrived. The sources, who spoke to The Times on the condition that they not be named because it was an ongoing investigation, said they believed the shooting was tied to Armenian or Eurosian organized crime but are unsure of the motive.

Investigators are hoping that shell casings recovered from the walls of the Hot Spot Cafe will provide a clearer account of exactly what happened Saturday afternoon.

LAPD Capt. Kevin McClure said the large number of gunshots fired during the attack suggest more than one gunman, but detectives aren't sure. “We are looking for anyone who knows about this shooting to come forward,” he said. A security video from the restaurant, McClure said, “did not provide the identity of the suspect or suspects because it didn't show the inside.”

A spotty description of what happened at the Middle Eastern eatery emerged Monday. One or two gunmen entered the business about 4 p.m. and approached a table where at least six men were dining, opening fire. Three of the diners were killed almost instantly and another died at a hospital.

The dead men were identified as Hayk Yegnanyan , 25; Sarkis Karadjian , 26; Harut Baburyan , 28; and Vardan Tofalyan , 31.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/04/probe-of-restaurant-shooting-that-killed-4-stymied-by-conflicting-accounts-lapd-sources-say.html#more

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From the Daily News

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The killing of an Arizona rancher dramatizes a growing border crisis

THE last anyone heard from Arizona cattle rancher Robert Krentz was when he called in to say he'd encountered an illegal immigrant on his land.

That was the afternoon of March 27. That night, the bodies of Krentz and his dog were found near a watering hole on the 30,000-acre ranch that has been in the Krentz family for more than a century. Both were dead of gunshot wounds. Local police figure the cross-border intruder who shot them fled back into Mexico.

I'm not a big fan of anecdotal evidence. It's too easy to manufacture a crisis by telling a few stories of people severely affected by this or that. But the killing of Robert Krentz is drawing new attention to the alarming state of affairs on the U.S. border with Mexico.

The stretch to which the Krentz ranch is adjacent is especially active. The beleaguered Border Patrol estimates that several million illegal immigrants cross over the 2,000-mile long southern border every year. Obviously, they're not all staying. The interdiction effort is so overextended that huge numbers are able to cross back and forth on a regular basis. And the traffic in undocumented workers, ruinous as that has been for schools, hospitals and law enforcement throughout the Southwest, is the least of it.

The Mexican drug cartels smuggle thousands of tons of heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine across the border every year, the majority of it through Arizona. They use private and commercial vehicles, human "mules," tunnels and light planes to penetrate U.S. territory. The drugs are distributed to around 20,000 street gangs in 2,500 cities across the United States, representing a million gangbangers, who grip their neighborhoods in a reign of terror. Billions of illicit dollars flow back across the border to the cartels, which are growing in power. A federal report concludes their production of heroin alone has doubled in the last 12 months.

The murder of Robert Krentz serves as a tragic focal point. Countless thousands die in gang-related killings, of drug overdoses, or commit suicide in despair over their addiction - all directly attributable to the government's failure to carry out one of its primary responsibilities, securing the border. What little patience I had with hearing about the "plight" of illegal immigrants is exhausted. And I'm far from alone.

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer wants the Obama administration to send in the National Guard to help police her state's porous border. If the feds continue to renege on their obligation, Brewer says she'll mobilize the Arizona Guard herself. But she's angry that the state might have to pay for a service that rightfully falls under the purview of Homeland Security. The administration is not stepping up, Brewer says.

If millions of pounds of illegal drugs flowing in from Mexico annually doesn't alarm you, what if it were tons of anthrax or high explosives? Don't think for a moment that terrorists somehow have missed the fact that the U.S.-Mexico border is an imaginary line in more ways than one. The time is coming, and doubtless is not far off, when they strike on our soil again. No one should be surprised on that dark day when we learn that the instrument of terror entered the United States across our southern border.

For every conceivable reason, the federal government must act quickly to stanch the flow of illegal immigrants into the U.S. Half-hearted stabs at building walls and using high-tech monitoring systems won't cut it. Neither will the Democrats' unwillingness to offend a reliable constituency - an unwillingness which, at its most cynical, equates future Democrat hegemony with amnesty programs and laws, such as those on the books in many Southern California cities forbidding police even to inquire about immigration status. It is the lowest form of political patronage.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has just returned from Mexico City, where she led a delegation aimed at coordinating efforts to quell cross-border drug trafficking and violence. Yeah, well, talk is cheap. This is an administration that proposes to spend trillions of dollars on an unworkable, unwanted scheme to socialize health care. Diverting a mere fraction of that money to border security would go a long way toward relieving overcrowded hospital emergency rooms in southwestern states, many of which have had to shut down because of the demands placed on them by indigent illegals.

Providing for the common defense is one of the fundamental duties of government as envisioned in the U.S. Constitution. Doesn't adequate policing of our borders seem pretty basic to that mandate?

http://www.dailynews.com/opinions/ci_14815309

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From the New York Times

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U.S. Is Seeking a Fine of $16.4 Million Against Toyota

DETROIT — The Transportation Department said Monday it would seek a $16.4 million fine against Toyota , the largest allowed, because the company had failed to promptly notify the government about potential problems with accelerator pedals.

The fine, which Toyota has two weeks to contest, would be the largest civil penalty assessed by the government against a car company. In taking the step, federal authorities are sending the strongest signal yet that they believe the carmaker deliberately concealed safety information from them.

“We now have proof that Toyota failed to live up to its legal obligations,” Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement. “Worse yet, they knowingly hid a dangerous defect for months from U.S. officials and did not take action to protect millions of drivers and their families.”

Mr. LaHood said documents obtained by the department showed Toyota had known of the potential pedal defect since at least last Sept. 29, when it issued repair procedures in 31 European countries and Canada to address complaints that accelerator pedals could stick and cause sudden, unintended acceleration.

The documents also showed that the company received complaints at that time from owners in the United States who were experiencing the same problems.

The company, however, did not recall vehicles in this country for the pedal problem until late January, although it issued a recall for floor mats last fall. Auto companies are legally obligated to notify the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration within five business days if they determine that a safety defect exists.

The agency itself has come under criticism for being too lenient in the past with Toyota when defects occurred.

Under law, Toyota has two weeks to accept or contest the proposed fine. The company has not replied to the department, a transportation spokeswoman said Monday. If Toyota chooses to fight the penalty, the government can sue to have it imposed in court.

A Toyota spokeswoman, Cindy Knight, said in a statement that the company had not yet received a letter from the agency about the fine.

“We have already taken a number of important steps to improve our communications with regulators and customers on safety-related matters as part of our strengthened overall commitment to quality assurance,” Ms. Knight said.

The fine is the latest development in an episode that has shaken Toyota's once-sterling image and made it the subject of lawsuits seeking billions of dollars in damages.

In the last six months, Toyota has recalled more than eight million vehicles worldwide, about six million of them in the United States, for pedals that could stick or for floor mats that could become entangled in the pedals. The company briefly halted production and sales of some vehicles sold in the United States until it could prescribe a repair.

The recalls led to a series of prominent hearings in Congress this winter that included the company's president, Akio Toyoda , as well as relatives of those killed in crashes and owners who said they had experienced unintended acceleration.

Mr. Toyoda, the grandson of Toyota's founder, has apologized repeatedly for the accidents and vowed his company would reorganize to prevent future safety problems.

Officials at Toyota's American operations said during Congressional testimony in February that they had not known about the sticking accelerator issue until this winter, even though Toyota had received complaints about it in Ireland and Britain in late 2008, and began changing production methods in Europe last August.

Further, Toyota had already completed making the changes on cars sold in Europe before the January recall took place in the United States.

The N.H.T.S.A. is still investigating two other Toyota recalls to see if more fines should be imposed. That investigation began on Feb. 16. It can impose a similar fine in each recall.

“We will continue to hold Toyota accountable for any additional violations we find in our ongoing investigation,” David Strickland, the agency's administrator, said in a statement.

The agency decided to seek the fine on Monday based on a preliminary investigation of more than 70,000 pages of documents received as part of its investigation of Toyota.

During Congressional testimony, Toyota officials admitted that information about recalls and defects in other countries was not routinely shared, although it could be obtained by visiting a company database. They said the authority to make recall decisions rested with company officials in Japan.

Since then, Toyota has created a global quality committee, with 70 representatives from around the world, which will be responsible for assuring that problems are shared among the company's units in various regions.

The safety agency also was criticized at the Congressional hearings for failing to be more aggressive in pursuing Toyota. Company documents showed the N.H.T.S.A. reached agreements several times in recent years that allowed Toyota to take less-extensive recall steps.

In one 2007 presentation, headlined “Safety Wins for Toyota,” the company said it had saved $100 million by negotiating a smaller recall campaign.

The $16.375 million penalty is the largest allowed per recall under the Tread Act, which was enacted after accidents involving Firestone tires on Ford Explorers. Though it would be a record in the auto industry, the fine pales in comparison with those the government has levied against other companies. For example, the Justice Department reached a $2.3 billion settlement last September with Pfizer , the pharmaceutical giant, over fraudulent marketing issues.

Sid Shapiro, a law professor at Wake Forest University and vice president of the Center for Progressive Reform, a legal research organization, questioned whether the Toyota fine would be effective.

“It's good news that N.H.T.S.A. is being an aggressive regulator, but you have to have doubts whether a $16 million fine is going to have a deterrent effect on automobile companies that are worth billions of dollars,” Mr. Shapiro said.

Mike Rozembajgier, director of recalls for ExpertRECALL, a consulting firm that helps manufacturers conduct product recalls, said the amount of the fine might be less important than the reasoning behind it.

Toyota reported strong March sales, helped by incentives it introduced in the wake of the recalls. But Mr. Rozembajgier said its customers could be less supportive should it turn out Toyota had tried to hide the defects, as the government contended.

“If it was done knowingly,” he said, “then it certainly becomes a game-changer for consumers.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/06/business/06toyota.html?ref=us&pagewanted=print

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In California, Louder Calls to Prepare for Quakes

SAN FRANCISCO — As residents on both sides of the Mexican border cleaned up after Sunday's earthquake, the authorities warned that many Californians remained unprepared for a serious quake, and emergency officials said that budget cuts have strained their ability to handle a disaster.

The budget challenges faced by firefighters and other first responders have probably affected preparedness, fire officials say, particularly in remote or lightly populated areas that often depend on larger cities or agencies for help in emergencies. Sunday's quake registered 7.2 and centered in a largely unpopulated area of northern Mexico.

“We know that there's going to be an earthquake, and we know it's going to be a major natural disaster,” said Lou Paulson, president of the California Professional Firefighters and a captain in the Contra Costa County fire protection district. “And I don't want to be one of the people who stands in front of the state of California and says, ‘We told you so.' ”

Seismologists say a major earthquake is almost a certainty in coming decades, given the region's seismic history. But a recent study by the California Emergency Management Agency found the majority of the state's households failing to meet recommendations for many basic emergency needs, like stockpiling water (a minimum of three gallons per person), reinforcing their homes and making disaster plans.

Such warnings had increased in urgency even before Sunday's earthquake, which caused aftershocks on Monday in Mexico as well as in the California counties on the border. In a statement issued with its March 5 report, Mathew Bettenhausen, secretary of the Emergency Management Agency, said the recent deadly quakes in Haiti and Chile were “unwelcome reminders” of what could happen in California.

On Monday, Kelly Huston, a spokesman for the agency, added that the continuing failure of Californians to fully prepare was frustrating, but that Sunday's quake was “a teachable moment.”

“It's tough trying to get people to think about something bad,” Mr. Huston said. “The only time we can get them to think about it is when the earth moves. Well, 20 million people felt that quake. So there's 20 million people who now realize that earthquakes can affect them.”

Two people have been confirmed dead as a result of the earthquake, which struck at 3:30 p.m. Sunday outside Mexicali. It also damaged homes and buildings and knocked out power for thousands. But fire officials say the damage could have been staggering if the quake had struck closer to population centers north of the border.

Mr. Paulson said an equivalent quake in Los Angeles could have sparked about 1,500 fires, each of which requiring 20 or more fire personnel to control. And while fire teams in California are used to helping each other, particularly during fierce wildfire seasons like 2008, cutbacks and furloughs have some departments rethinking voluntary mutual aid agreements. “People are not going to saddle up as much as they used to,” he said.

State Senator Christine Kehoe, a Democrat from San Diego and the chairwoman of a joint legislative committee on emergency management, said California's earthquake response was still “the finest in the world,” citing up-to-date communications equipment, regular multi-agency drills and ample experience in dealing with natural disasters. (California officials like to say the state has four seasons: flood, fire, mudslide and earthquake.)

But Ms. Kehoe admitted that budget reductions had “put a dent in our public safety response,” and that future financing was always questionable in a state facing a $20 billion deficit.

“One of our challenges and shortcomings is we don't plan ahead for expenses we know we're going to incur,” she said.

In the private sector, companies — particularly those reliant on communication — seem to be more adept at preparation. The Los Angeles Times, for example, has a downtown printing plant that can withstand a 9.0 quake, which would expend 500 times the energy of Sunday's quake. But the newspaper also keeps a plant in Costa Mesa, in neighboring Orange County, which “can also be reactivated almost immediately,” said Nancy Sullivan, a spokeswoman for the paper.

California utility companies use satellite phones and social media sites to stay in contact with customers and employees in case of a quake, and keep helicopters on call in case roads are blocked.

At Southern California Edison, which provides power to some 14 million customers in the tremor-prone region, the company went through its emergency protocol on Sunday after the Mexico quake, checking facilities like its nuclear plant and power generation facilities. And over the next week the company will do what it calls a “Lessons Learned” assessment. “We'll take a look at our response and ask, ‘Who was doing what?' ” said Steven Conroy, a company spokesman.

The state fire agency, Cal Fire , used the quake as an opportunity to practice for the big one, moving fire trucks into the street — to avoid them being trapped inside station houses — and rolling through neighborhoods in two southern counties looking for damage.

The state budget for emergency management services was $1.4 billion in the current fiscal year, trimmed slightly from the year before. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed a 4.8 percent surcharge on property insurance to provide more than $478 million annually in new financing for emergency preparedness.

But that proposal, backed by Senator Kehoe, faces uncertain prospects in a Legislature in which Republicans often block anything resembling a tax.

For some, Sunday's quake was a boon.

In Burbank, north of Los Angeles, the warehouse for earthquakestore.com , which sells preparedness gear and gadgets, was buzzing, with good sales of survival kits and quake alarms, which purport to pick up seismic waves.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/06/us/06plan.html?ref=us&pagewanted=print

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Cameras Make Chicago Most Closely Watched US City

CHICAGO (AP) -- When the body of Chicago's school board president was found partially submerged in a river last fall, a bullet wound to the head, cameras helped prove it was a suicide.

Friends had speculated someone forced Michael Scott to drive to the river before shooting him -- and maybe even wrapped his fingers around the trigger.

But within days, police recreated Scott's 20-minute drive through the city using high-tech equipment that singled out his car on a succession of surveillance cameras, handing the image from camera to camera. The video didn't capture Scott's final moments, but it helped convince police his death was a suicide: He wasn't followed. He wasn't following anyone. He never picked up a passenger.

The investigation offered a riveting demonstration of the most extensive and sophisticated video surveillance system in the United States, and one that is transforming what it means to be in public in Chicago.

In less than a decade and with little opposition, the city has linked thousands of cameras -- on street poles and skyscrapers, aboard buses and in train tunnels -- in a network covering most of the city. Officials can watch video live at a sprawling emergency command center, police stations and even some squad cars.

''I don't think there is another city in the U.S. that has as an extensive and integrated camera network as Chicago has,'' said Michael Chertoff , the former Homeland Security secretary.

New York has plenty of cameras, but about half of the 4,300 installed along the city's subways don't work. Other cities haven't been able to link networks like Chicago. Baltimore, for example, doesn't integrate school cameras with its emergency system and it can't immediately send 911 dispatchers video from the camera nearest to a call like Chicago can.

Even London -- widely considered the world's most closely watched city with an estimated 500,000 cameras -- doesn't incorporate private cameras in its system as Chicago does.

While critics decry the network as the biggest of Big Brother invasions of privacy, most Chicago residents accept them as a fact of life in a city that has always had a powerful local government and police force.

And authorities say the system helps them respond to emergencies in a way never before possible. A dispatcher can tell those racing to the scene how big a fire is or what a gunman looks like. If a package is left sitting next to a building for more than a few minutes, a camera can send an alert.

Cameras have recorded drug deals, bike thefts and a holiday bell ringer dipping his hand into a pot outside a downtown store. Footage from a camera on a city bus helped convince a suspected gang member to plead guilty to shooting a 16-year-old high school student in 2007.

In the death of the school board president, the cameras helped diffuse mounting suspicion and anger.

''It really closed that piece of the puzzle,'' police Superintendent Jody Weis said. ''We don't know what was going through his head, but we definitely know he was alone.''

The network began less than a decade ago with a dozen cameras installed in Grant Park to deter violence during the annual Taste of Chicago festival. It now includes private cameras as well as those installed by a variety of public agencies.

While authorities won't say exactly how many cameras are included, with 1,500 installed by emergency officials, 6,500 in city schools and many more at public and private facilities, nobody disputes an estimate of 10,000 and growing. Weis said he would like to add ''covert'' cameras, perhaps as small as matchboxes.

City officials from around the world have visited Chicago to see the system and how effective it is.

Chicago police point to 4,000 arrests made since 2006 with the help of cameras. And, an unpublished study by the Washington-based Urban Institute found crime in one neighborhood -- including drug sales, robberies and weapons offenses -- decreased significantly after cameras were installed, said Nancy La Vigne, director of the institute's Justice Policy Center.

''It does stop people from coming out and acting the fool,'' observed Larry Scott, who lives in one of the city's last remaining public housing high rises.

He said residents rarely complain, unless they get caught for a minor offense or the cameras fail to record a violent attack.

''People were upset when that boy was killed by the 2-by-4 and there were no pictures,'' he said, referring to the beating death of a high school student that was recorded by cell phone but not city cameras last year.

Police say they usually hear from Chicago residents about the cameras only when they want one installed in their neighborhood or worry one will be removed. Such a claim is supported by an unlikely source: The American Civil Liberties Union , which has criticized the use of cameras as an invasion of privacy and ineffective crime fighting tool.

''It does appear that people only object is when they get a ticket (because of a camera) for running a red light,'' ACLU spokesman Edwin Yohnka said.

Although courts have generally found surveillance cameras placed in public don't violate individuals' privacy, Yohnka said they could too easily be misused.

''What protections are in place to stop a rogue officer from taking a highly powerful camera and aim it in a way to find or track someone who is perhaps a former love interest or something like that?'' he asked.

Aric Roush, director of information services at the city's 911 center, responded that dispatchers see nothing officers wouldn't see if they were on the scene.

''You can't afford to put a police officer on every single corner (and) it is a lot more cost effective and efficient to put a camera where you don't have eyes,'' he said.

Chicago residents tend to be tough on crime and are likely to support any tool police use, said Paul Green, a Roosevelt University political science professor. Many literally applauded the officers who swung billy clubs at protesters during the 1968 Democratic National Convention , he recalled.

Mayor Richard Daley, he said, ''could put 10,000 more cameras up and nobody would say anything.''

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/04/06/us/AP-US-Chicago-Cameras-Everywhere.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print

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