Cook County pulls plug on “Project Shield”

Cook County officials have ended “Project Shield,” a security program designed to equip 128 municipal police departments with cameras in squad cars and at stationary locations capable of sending live video back to command centers in the event of a terrorist attack.

County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said Thursday the problems with the program have been documented and officials undertook a careful review of the problems.

Cook County Homeland Security and Emergency Management director Mike Masters said the system was “ill-conceived, poorly designed and badly executed.”

According to Preckwinkle and Masters, the program was plagued by equipment failures and frustration from area police chiefs. IBM, the first contractor, was released by the county. A second contractor, Johnson Controls International, had no better success in creating an operational system.