Congress may soon keep the federal government from buying a type of security camera that’s already monitoring Pittsburgh’s South Side.
The U.S. House, citing national security concerns, passed a bill last month that would prevent the feds from using cameras and related devices from Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co., Dahua Technology Co. and three other Chinese companies.
At least some cameras installed along East Carson Street between 10th and 19th streets bear the Dahua name, part of an expanding security network led by Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr.
Mr. Zappala’s office wouldn’t say this week how many Dahua devices are part of the 450-camera system, which monitors 75 locations countywide. About three dozen cameras in the network are in the East Carson area, installed there since late 2017.
“In advancing the use of technology by law enforcement to better promote public safety, the Office of the District Attorney utilizes the lowest, most responsible vendors/bidders,” Zappala spokesman Mike Manko said in a brief statement Friday. As a county agency, the prosecutor’s office generally would not be subject to device restrictions under the federal legislation.
Mr. Manko wouldn’t say whether the local camera network includes any Chinese makes listed in the bill. But first-hand observations, prior KDKA-TV video footage and sources familiar with the installations made clear that Dahua cameras are part of the system in the South Side. KDKA-TV is a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette news partner.
Rep. Vicky Hartzler, a Missouri Republican, amended defense legislation to target several Chinese companies, an aide said. The bill now is in the Senate.
“We must ensure that we are doing everything possible to prevent China from extending its networks further and further into our agencies,” Hartzler spokeswoman Anna Swick said in a statement.
The Chinese government is “using every avenue at its disposal to target the U.S., including expanding the role of Chinese companies in the U.S. domestic communications and public safety sectors,” Ms. Swick said. Federal officials know of Chinese companies that “build back-doors into their equipment,” she said.
Dahua defended itself in a statement, saying it operates “with a high level of business integrity.” The company is “committed to compliance with all applicable laws and regulations,” it said.
Hikvision offered similar remarks, adding that it “takes cybersecurity seriously.”
“The amendment prohibiting video surveillance equipment sales to the U.S. federal government was made without a complete accounting of the facts and with no evidence to justify the claims made by its sponsors,” a Hikvision spokesman said in a statement.
At New York-based PCMag.com, a computer news group, lead analyst Sascha Segan said no one was calling the products “a clear and present danger right now.” Worry centers instead on whether Chinese companies with large government investors could be used later “to introduce vulnerabilities which the Chinese government would take advantage of,” he said.
Put another way: Federal security officials fear that Beijing may squeeze device companies in the future to let China snoop on the U.S., even if there’s no evidence that’s happening at the moment.
“It’s not even about a vulnerability that exists now. It becomes a question of, can these companies be manipulated or coerced by their home [country’s] government to do things that we would not approve of in the future?” Mr. Segan said.
Several other public entities — including Allegheny County and the Pittsburgh Department of Public Safety — said they do not use security camera brands listed in the federal bill. The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation said it had no record of those brands being in its inventory for traffic cameras and driver’s license centers.
South Side crime has fallen more than 30 percent since early 2017, police data show. Officials have credited the decline in part to security cameras, which they say deter crime and help prosecutors. The city public-safety department also has amplified weekend patrols in the nightlife-rich area and operates its own camera network there.
Mark Bucklaw, president of the South Side Chamber of Commerce, called security cameras “a step in the right direction to make sure we continually improve the business district.” He thinks people feel safer there, he said in an earlier interview.
“You put a camera somewhere, it causes people to have a little more hesitation to do something they otherwise probably would do,” Mr. Bucklaw said.
Adam Smeltz: 412-263-2625, asmeltz@post-gazette.com, @asmeltz.
First Published: June 16, 2018, 1:53 a.m.