Neil Knight Private Dick

Chicken sa Gata

In 2015 the Santa Ana Video Security Enhancement Program was passed unanimously by city officials. The plan allowed for the installation of 60 strategically placed cameras throughout the city's historic downtown district, as well as seven Courtesy Communication Monuments, which consisted of cameras having a 360-degree field of view, mounted at eye-level, with 911 and 411 call buttons.

The program was reportedly developed based on the security concerns of city residents and visitors, but was actually rooted in two unrelated issues. First were the commercial concerns of local businessmen, as recent high-profile shootings, beatings, and stabbing deaths were having a negative impact on city nightlife, and second, the desire of the Orange County Sheriff's department to acquire the same system that the Anaheim City Council had approved for its' police department; the Overt Surveillance Camera Project. The Anaheim system allowed for city-wide surveillance complete with command center monitoring and one-way speakers which allowed officers to remotely shout orders at people.

"The system we are proposing will deter crime by providing our department with around-the-clock city-wide monitoring capabilities and allow us to capture video evidence for use prosecuting criminal suspects" stated Sheriff Helen Wilson-Watson in her appeal to the city council. The council was happy to provide the officers with unregulated video access to their city streets.

Upon approval a contractor was quickly selected in another no-bid situation, with Santa Ana choosing the same software and hardware vendor that the city of Redmond had used for their holistic security system.

Within months of installation at Redmond, the security and I.T. engineers discovered a security flaw that allowed their video feeds to be tapped into by third parties. The software backdoor was quickly patched.

Unfortunately, Santa Ana city administrators were never made aware that hackers could access what was supposed to be secure video feeds. It wasn't that the Redmond police hadn't contacted the Orange County Sheriff's office about the issue, it was simply that Wilson-Watson didn't want to be bothered with having to fix a system she had recently sold the city on installing.

"What do I want to look like an idiot?" she had asked Riganti.

"Hell no" he replied. "And just who the hell would want to watch security videos anyway?"

Well Cotton Spradley for one.

Ever since moving out to Yorba Linda he had found early retirement somewhat boring, and in searching for an engaging activity he happened across the unsecured City of Santa Ana video feeds. He became so engrossed he dedicated a room in his basement to his new viewing venture, and even uploaded enhancements into the system without alerting the policemen who were monitoring the system. The feeds provided more entertainment than cable television, and were marginally better than Hulu and Netflix.

Unlike Cotton, Neil Knight wasn't a programmer, so he had to get his information the old-fashioned way, by locating a source and pleading his case. And that's just what he did with the Maître De at the Irenia Supper Club.

Neil had begun to work backwards to go forwards.

His long-held mantra was that most times you need to know where you've been to understand where you are.

So he had begun with the evening he had met the bruised and beaten Maria Fiorello Campana at his hotel room. December 16th. He had called her one hour ago on the burner and had asked her a few questions about her activities for the evening. Of course she lied. People always do.

Her story hadn't been a complete lie. There was just enough truth in her words to make someone with less experience than the detective buy her tale. But Neil had been around the block a few times already. He hadn't just fallen off the turnip truck.