OT Way OT: Brown, MIT murders link?

[superjohn]

I saw reports indicating he was enrolled in an engineering program and classes and labs would have been in that building.

The shooter/killer was enrolled in only physics classes at Brown back in the day. The physics department and classes were in that building.

 

[HuskyHawk]

What a weird thread. All this talk about cameras. It's an urban campus, so doesn't have the same kind of campus controls that you'd find at UConn. It blends into the neighborhood. There is residential across the street from where the shooting occurred. Expensive residential, so it's pretty well policed.

I don't think more cameras would make a difference. I do think lack of analysis of the data from the existing cameras might have helped. This is the kind of thing AI can be used for, spotting anomalous behaviors. I'm also a believer in treating anyone in a mask outdoors with suspicion.

 

[John]

What a weird thread. All this talk about cameras. It's an urban campus, so doesn't have the same kind of campus controls that you'd find at UConn. It blends into the neighborhood. There is residential across the street from where the shooting occurred. Expensive residential, so it's pretty well policed.

I don't think more cameras would make a difference. I do think lack of analysis of the data from the existing cameras might have helped. This is the kind of thing AI can be used for, spotting anomalous behaviors. I'm also a believer in treating anyone in a mask outdoors with suspicion.

lots of armchair experts.

 

[80shusky]

What a weird thread. All this talk about cameras. It's an urban campus, so doesn't have the same kind of campus controls that you'd find at UConn. It blends into the neighborhood. There is residential across the street from where the shooting occurred. Expensive residential, so it's pretty well policed.

I don't think more cameras would make a difference. I do think lack of analysis of the data from the existing cameras might have helped. This is the kind of thing AI can be used for, spotting anomalous behaviors. I'm also a believer in treating anyone in a mask outdoors with suspicion.

There's campus controls at UConn now? When I was there anybody could go anywhere and nobody would even notice. If Godzilla had crossed campus crushing buildings and cars in his path people would've just handed him a beer.

 

[upstater]

But again, having better information about how he left the crime scene allows investigators to be more efficient in tracking him down. I feel as if we're talking past each other, because that isn't a particularly controversial statement.

But they did find footage on the first day of him walking down Waterman street. They saw the direction he was walking toward and even found earlier footage of where he came from in that neighborhood.

 

[NJHusky]

But they did find footage on the first day of him walking down Waterman street. They saw the direction he was walking toward and even found earlier footage of where he came from in that neighborhood

But they didnt have video of him casing the place before because no cameras. The homeless guy noticed him hanging around and followed him. Maybe a mask slips at some point. Do y think an AI might have noticed him?

So why have ANY cameras then? Since they won’t help if someone is wearing a mask. Why did they have cameras in new part of building??
Either camera are necessary or not.

 

[upstater]

But they didnt have video of him casing the place before because no cameras. The homeless guy noticed him hanging around and followed him. Maybe a mask slips at some point. Do y think an AI might have noticed him?

So why have ANY cameras then? Since they won’t help if someone is wearing a mask. Why did they have cameras in new part of building??
Either camera are necessary or not.

Im really struggling here with the nature of your question. You believe the cameras are there to prevent future crime? This is some kind of Minority Report type thing.

 

[HuskyNan]

But they didnt have video of him casing the place before because no cameras. The homeless guy noticed him hanging around and followed him. Maybe a mask slips at some point. Do y think an AI might have noticed him?

So why have ANY cameras then? Since they won’t help if someone is wearing a mask. Why did they have cameras in new part of building??
Either camera are necessary or not.

How would AI know the difference between a person that regularly walks the halls for class or to work on a project and a guy casing the place?

 

[MuchoDogYears]

If there were more cameras in the building we could have watched the people killed/shot as it happened. It would in no way prevented the shooter from doing what he planned.

It literally sounds like you’re arguing against having means that would’ve helped identify and apprehend the murderer because the victims of the murderer are already dead? I’d hope that’s not what you mean.

In my opinion there are
Innumerable murders that have never taken place because the consequences to being apprehended for committing murder made the potential murderer think long and hard about going through with it.

 

[HuskyHawk]

There's campus controls at UConn now? When I was there anybody could go anywhere and nobody would even notice. If Godzilla had crossed campus crushing buildings and cars in his path people would've just handed him a beer.

People can go where they want, but the difference is, many of the people walking/driving on or near the Brown campus aren't students or faculty. At UConn most everyone you see is associated with the school. At Brown that's not the case. It's harder to police.

 

[Lafayette]

I think we can all agree this is going to be handled a quantum leap above the handling of the Karen Read case.

 

[CL82]

I have never held a grudge. That's my superpower.

TOS comes to mind as a possibility.

 

[NJHusky]

Im really struggling here with the nature of your question. You believe the cameras are there to prevent future crime? This is some kind of Minority Report type thing.

For those that don't think cameras matter, why are they adding them in the new part of the building...Either they are useful and put them in properly and everywhere...or don't bother at all. Sounds like they did it half assed.

I'm not expecting them to be a minority report...decent flick though

AI cameras can detect guns...I'm also assuming they can detect patterns...guy never seen before and now is hanging around every day wearing a mask. You don't need Barney Fife staring at a monitor.

And Acoustic detection can immediately detect a gunshot and tell cops where it happened.

But more importantly, they provide more data to cops...maybe they capture a logo on a jacket, or a unique sneaker brand. Either way, more info is better than less in solving crimes. knowing which way he left the building..so go knocking on those doors immediately for security footage.

And if they had cameras maybe they identify the homeless guy within hours since he's living in the building...and are able to prevent another murder in MA.

 

[Punkbo]

Cameras may not have mattered in preventing the crime, but cameras definitely mattered in apprehending the perpetrator. Two of the individuals who were shot positively identified the shooter through images provided by cameras in and around campus as well as cameras at the rental car location.

 

[temery]

It literally sounds like you’re arguing against having means that would’ve helped identify and apprehend the murderer because the victims of the murderer are already dead? I’d hope that’s not what you mean.

In my opinion there are
Innumerable murders that have never taken place because the consequences to being apprehended for committing murder made the potential murderer think long and hard about going through with it.

I'm saying Brown was in no way negligent and they did not have anything to do with the murder of the MIT professor.

 

[temery]

Cameras may not have mattered in preventing the crime, but cameras definitely mattered in apprehending the perpetrator. Two of the individuals who were shot positively identified the shooter through images provided by cameras in and around campus as well as cameras at the rental car location.

Exactly

 

[UKemba15]

Amateur. I’ve got 30, 35, 40 year grudges going.

I’m not one to hold a grudge. My father held grudges, and I’ll always hate him for that.

 

[JeannoCT]

Amateur. I’ve got 30, 35, 40 year grudges going.

Are you Irish?? I am, and my relatives held grudges for YEARS.

 

[champs99and04]

If I had to guess, the IQ of the criminal is generally more predictive of his ability to evade arrest than is the quality of the security/surveillance system. Doesn't necessarily mean there shouldn't have been more cameras, but my impression is that the killer targeted this building specifically for three main reasons (beyond the possible physics revenge angle):

1. The age of the building

2. The location of the building (which was, IIRC, on the very outer boundary of campus to the point that you would have literally been off campus by the time you walked out the back door) complicated the school's ability to protect students in the same way it could in other buildings

3. His familiarity with the building as a former student/physics major

Point being, pulling this off likely required several weeks or months (maybe years?) of advanced plotting and planning. And not just from your average criminal, but from someone who was likely both highly intelligent and intimately familiar with the school and its security apparatus.

Not trying to exonerate the school here, but human beings will always be able to outmaneuver cameras or computers no matter how prevalent or sophisticated they may become. This particular tragedy seemed to require a perfect storm of unpredictable events that would have seemed too crazy to contemplate a week ago.

 

[Mr. Wonderful]

There's campus controls at UConn now? When I was there anybody could go anywhere and nobody would even notice. If Godzilla had crossed campus crushing buildings and cars in his path people would've just handed him a beer.

There are cameras all over campus now. At every major intersection and outside most campus buildings. They feed into the UConn police station, there's at least 8 monitors that cycle through all the camera locations (don't know exactly how many cameras there are, but it's a lot). I wouldn't say any of them qualify as "actively monitored." It's more the case that if something goes down, they can review the film after the fact. No arrest has ever been made purely from a cop watching a monitor, that's more than a little unrealistic

 

[UConnSportsGuy]

So for any older UConn grads who will get the reference....this massive case was essentially solved by Browns version of Physics Phil?! 😀

 

[Vowelguy]

lol
They could have 1 million camera and AI gun detection and blah blah blah.

You could also walk around 24/7 wearing a bullet proof vest and a gas mask and a helmet and flanked by armed guards. I presume you don’t? Why? Probably because you determined that it was overboard and constraining and costly relative to the risks.

Who’s to say Brown hasn’t correctly been making that assessment?
A lot of armchair quarterbacks.

 

[CTBballfan243]

lots of armchair experts.

Growing up, I watched Adam 12, Hawaii five-O, Hill Street Blues, Miami Vice, NCIS, The Closer......................... I am well versed in crime solving.

 

[TheChamps990411]

Our FBI is doing a bang up job. 🙄

 

[HooperScooper]

Sounds like he was troubled for a long time.

Brown campus shooter harbored resentment from time as a PhD student in the early 2000s, friend says​