Congratulations to former Gov. William G. Milliken, who has been selected by the Detroit Free Press as one of the newspaper’s 2011 Michigan Green Leaders. Gov. Milliken appears on a billboard, above, as one of the leaders making Michigan a better place to live.
The Outdoor Advertising Association of Michigan is honored to have received a 2010 Outstanding Traffic Safety Achievement Award from the Governor’s Traffic Safety Advisory Commission for donating billboard space to promote traffic safety campaigns.
In 2010, the association donated 24 billboards to make drivers aware of the ban on texting while driving and 17 boards to promote the November Operation C.A.R.E. (Combined Accident Reduction Effort) holiday traffic enforcement campaign. Limited resources often make it challenging to educate motorists about new traffic laws and often, the Michigan Office of Highway Safety Planning must rely on donated resources to get the word out. The Outdoor Advertising Association of Michigan is dedicated to providing important public awareness messages on behalf of nonprofit organizations.
CBS Outdoor Vice President of North Central Region Tom Carroll, president of the Outdoor Advertising Association of Michigan, accepted the award during a March 23, 2011 awards luncheon held at the Kellogg Hotel & Center in East Lansing, Mich.
>>Read the Oakland Press coverage of this distinction.
Tom Carroll with the Michigan Secretary of State Ruth Johnson during the March 23, 2011 awards luncheon.
Tom Carroll with Lynn Sutfin, chairwoman of the 2010 Award Selection Committee, during the March 23, 2011 awards luncheon.
Frankie Ferguson, the CBS Outdoor creative director in Flint, recently accepted an award from the County Road Association of Michigan for a road safety billboard program. Billboards continue to prove to be a highly effective way to promote safety on Michigan’s roadways.
Congratulations, Frankie!
(Image via philly.com)
Philadelphia Inquirer
By Peter Mucha, Inquirer Staff Writer
Four years ago, Natosha Gale Warner, who works in Philadelphia for the FBI, was batting around ideas with Clear Channel vice president Barbara Bridge about ways to use the company’s new digital billboards – the kind that can change images a half-dozen times a minute.
After discussing using the billboards to publicize a citizen-action program, Warner recalled saying, “How about featuring fugitives, the kind you would normally see in the post office?”
Since that inspiration, hundreds of billboards have sprung up around the country, contributing to the arrests of at least 40 people – most recently a man picked up in Connecticut who authorities believe is the “East Coast Rapist.”
n Feb. 28, the very day his picture went up above highways in seven states – including one next to the toll plaza at the Benjamin Franklin Bridge – a crucial tip was called in to Maryland police.
“What took you so long?” Aaron Thomas, 39, reportedly said when U.S. marshals arrested him Friday afternoon in Connecticut. Authorities believe the unemployed truck driver attacked at least 17 women over a dozen years from Virginia to Rhode Island.
This week, drivers on I-95, the Pennsylvania Turnpike, the Admiral Wilson Boulevard, and the Walt Whitman Bridge can catch glimpses of the likes of Cornell Sutherland, wanted for murder, staring back between ads for Mars Needs Moms and March Madness on CBS.
The Philadelphia area has had the lion’s share of successes since Clear Channel launched the effort on Sept. 13, 2007, with eight people arrested since then in connection with crimes including operating a Ponzi scheme, drug dealing, rape, and murder.
Clear Channel, said Philadelphia division president George Kauker, has long worked closely with police and firefighters – posting billboard tributes to fallen officers, for example – so getting on board the fugitive billboard idea was “pretty automatic.”
The first arrests came quickly. The month after the billboards went up, two fugitives were captured as a direct result of the publicity, the FBI announced.
And then the billboards helped catch a man later convicted of killing a police officer.
That Halloween, Philadelphia Police Officer Chuck Cassidy was gunned down while responding to an armed robbery, and digital billboards quickly spread the word about the manhunt for suspect John “Jordan” Lewis, who was captured within a week in Miami.
Lewis, who confessed, was sentenced to death in 2009 by a jury.
(Image
WASHINGTON, March 7, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Authorities from multiple states and jurisdictions, including federal agencies, today credited a recent digital billboard campaign with helping to apprehend the suspected East Coast Rapist. Aaron H. Thomas was arrested Friday in New Haven, Connecticut, following a tip from the public and a DNA match to 12 reported cases of sexual assault over 12 years.
“Ultimately the billboard and media campaign led to a detailed tip to help to crack this case,” said Ronald Hosko, Criminal Division at FBI’s Washington Field Office, at a press conference this morning in Prince William County, VA. “The billboards were live last Monday, and by Friday the suspect was in custody.”
Billboard operators CBS Outdoor, Clear Channel Outdoor, and Lamar Advertising Company volunteered to post an FBI wanted alert on digital billboards in Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Virginia. The alerts, which featured composite sketches of the suspect, along with a website and tip line, were posted on Monday, February 28 – the tip that led to his arrest came to authorities that same day. On Thursday, March 3, Aaron Thomas’ DNA was collected for analysis, and on Friday morning the DNA match was confirmed.
“This case truly highlights the value of this partnership between the outdoor advertising industry and law enforcement, especially in the use of digital billboards,” said Nancy Fletcher, President & CEO, Outdoor Advertising Association of America (OAAA). “This new and innovative technology serves as a vital tool to authorities when it’s necessary to quickly get information out to as many people as possible. And, as the world has seen over the last few days – it works!”
Since the FBI launched its digital billboard partnership with OAAA, at least 40 cases have been solved as a direct result from tips from the public.
OAAA is the trade association for the more than 800 outdoor advertising companies that make up 90 percent of the industry’s revenue. For 120 years, the association has been dedicated to leading and uniting a responsible outdoor advertising industry that is committed to serving the needs of advertisers, consumers and communities. Outdoor advertising companies generate $6.1 billion annually in ad revenues and donate space to charitable organizations in excess of $400 million each year. For more information, please visit www.oaaa.org.
Photo: Digital billboards across eight states, including Rhode Island, were put up recently to help the FBI and seven local law enforcement agencies in a multistate manhunt for a suspected serial rapist. (Image via http://www.projo.com and courtesy of the Outdoor Advertising Association of America).
From Journal staff and wire reports
From the Authorities in Connecticut have arrested a suspect in the East Coast Rapist case, in which women have been raped or attacked in several states since 1997, the Associated Press reported Friday.
The incidents included a “peeping-Tom” report in Cranston in November 2006, but Cranston police said Friday there were difficulties with their case.
New Haven police spokesman Joe Avery said 39-year-old Aaron Thomas of New Haven was arrested Friday afternoon at his home by the U.S. Marshals’ Fugitive Task Force. The arrest was based on a lead from authorities in Virginia, U.S. Marshal Joe Faughnan told the AP. He said he couldn’t provide further details.
Avery said Thomas was being held by the police for questioning. No charges had been filed.
The East Coast Rapist eluded authorities for years despite committing a string of high-risk outdoor attacks, law enforcement officials say. In a recent effort to generate new leads in the case, authorities posted sketches of the suspect on electronic billboards in states where attacks occurred — Virginia, Connecticut, Maryland and Rhode Island — and in neighboring states.
Maj. Robert Ryan, spokesman for the Cranston police, said Friday that there were discrepancies in the Cranston case — the man’s method of operation and physical description did not match those in the rest of the cases.
In the Cranston case, Ryan said, two children doing homework in their living room on Valley View Drive looked out a window and saw a strange man on their deck. They screamed for their mother, Ryan said, and the man ran off.
A police search proved fruitless, although officers were able to analyze DNA from “bodily fluids” found on the deck that linked the man to the other attacks.
Ryan said any charge based on the Cranston case would probably be disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor, but that the Cranston police would defer to the Rhode Island attorney general’s office for a decision.
In Virginia, the police set up a website about the case at eastcoastrapist.com. Detective John Kelly in Fairfax County, Va., said the website generated 44,000 hits in 12 hours after it was launched late last month.
The attacker wore a mask or hooded sweatshirt to conceal his face in some attacks, investigators say. He typically approached women outdoors on foot and threatened them with a knife or a handgun, they say.
The last known attack occurred on Halloween night in 2009, when two teenagers on their way home from trick-or-treating in Woodbridge, Va., were raped, authorities say.
The cases have been linked by DNA. Investigators say they have cleared more than 700 suspects.
With reports from staff writer Thomas J. Morgan, the Associated Press and the Hartford Courant
Editorial: Proposed ban on new electronic billboards premature
The Detroit News
March 10, 2010
State lawmakers in the House Great Lakes and Environment Committee are slated later this week to take up legislation imposing a two-year moratorium on digital billboards — signs that have electronic messages or moving words or images. Only digital billboards are singled out for this treatment. The legislation is simply unnecessary.
Click here to read the entire editorial.
Five Studies Show Signs are Safe
LANSING, Mich. — A bill in the state House of Representatives that eventually seeks to ban digital billboards in Michigan is good for criminals and bad for public safety and jobs, police agencies and others are saying in strong opposition to House Bill 5580.
House Bill 5580 would place a moratorium on digital billboards in Michigan until yet another study is completed to determine if the signs might distract motorists. The legislation would also give the Michigan Department of Transportation the authority to ban digital billboards starting in 2012.
Five studies already completed have found no correlation between digital billboards and driving safety. Just last week, the most recent examination of digital billboards was released. In Albuquerque, New Mexico, police provided more than seven years of accident data to consulting engineers Tantala Associates, who analyzed accidents that occurred within a mile of 17 digital billboards. The study found no correlation between digital billboards traffic accidents.
Two other studies (in 2007 and 2009) by Tantala Associates also found digital billboards have no statistical relationship with traffic accidents on interstates. In total, the studies evaluated eight years of accident data from the Ohio Department of Transportation and analyzed more than 60,000 accident reports. In another 2009 study, Tantala examined accident data for local roads in Rochester, Minn., and again, concluded digital billboards are not related to accidents.
Tantala’s findings affirmed 2007 research conducted in Cleveland, Ohio, by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI). The VTTI human factors study used cameras to measure driver distraction — eyeglance patterns, speed maintenance and lane keeping — and concluded digital billboards were “safety-neutral,” with driving performance measures in the presence of digital billboards comparable to those associated with everyday driving.
“House Bill 5580 is legislation in search of a problem that simply does not exist,” said Tom Carroll, president of the Detroit-based Outdoor Advertising Association of Michigan (OAAM) and vice president of Michigan Region for CBS Outdoor, noting that fewer than 50 of Michigan’s roughly 12,000 billboards are digital. “It’s unfortunate that a radical special interest group like Scenic Michigan would want the Legislature to take a proven crime fighting tool away from public safety professionals while spending time trying to fix a problem that doesn’t exist, instead of addressing the serious economic issues facing our state.”
Carroll’s comments come as numerous public safety officers and organizations line up to voice opposition to House Bill 5580, including the Michigan Association of Chiefs of Police, Crime Stoppers of Michigan, the Crime Awareness and Prevention Through a Unified Reporting Effort (CAPTURE), the Alliance for a Safer Detroit, Silent Observer (Grand Rapids), various local police agencies, and more.
“Digital billboards are a valuable tool in law enforcement,” said Kent County Sheriff Larry Stelma, who is opposed to the moratorium.
Across Michigan and the nation, digital billboards are being used with high degrees of success by local, state and federal law enforcement agencies to nab fugitives on the run and to find missing and abducted children.
Digital billboards have unmatched ability to get pictures and critical information to the public almost immediately. For example, when AMBER Alerts are issued, Michigan’s billboard companies quickly create and post information on their digital signs within moments. To date, more than 25 statewide AMBER Alerts have been posted on digital billboards.
Local crime fighting organizations also rely on digital billboards to find dangerous criminals. Crime Stoppers, a 501(c)3 nonprofit international organization that has operated in Saginaw and Bay counties since the 1970s, has captured a number of suspects in recent years after placing their picture on digital billboards. The Alliance for a Safer Detroit has also had success using digital billboards. The Crime Awareness and Prevention Through a Unified Reporting Effort (CAPTURE) program in Port Huron and St. Clair counties can attribute the apprehension of numerous suspects to the use of billboards urging people to call their tip line. Over the past few years, Michigan’s billboard companies have voluntarily posted 110 suspects on digital billboards, helping the programs apprehend about 75 percent of the suspects.
“Stopping billboard companies from adding digital signs is like taking officers off the street,” said Bart R. Dexter, coordinator of Crime Stoppers of Michigan. “Nonprofit public safety groups are trying to expand community-based programs to keep people safe and catch criminals throughout the state; if digital billboards are not allowed in a local area, the programs are much less effective.”
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has recognized the billboard industry for its efforts to post images of wanted criminals when the bureau believes a suspect is in an area served by digital billboards.
Even the State of Michigan has built digital signs resembling billboards along highways to inform drivers, route traffic and encourage motorists to avoid distractions and drive safely, highlighting the impact timely digital messages can have on safety.
Digital Billboards Will Post AMBER Alerts Statewide
LANSING, Mich. — Michigan’s largest outdoor advertising companies today announced a statewide program to help law enforcement agencies find missing children and suspected criminals by broadcasting AMBER Alerts and photographs of wanted fugitives on digital billboards.
Under the program, member companies of the Outdoor Advertising Association of Michigan (OAAM), which includes CBS Outdoor and Lamar Advertising Co., along with Adams Outdoor Advertising, will volunteer their digital billboards across the state when AMBER Alerts are issued. The companies will also use their digital billboards to broadcast the photographs and names of fugitives wanted by the FBI and local police when a suspect is believed to be in the area.
“As I’m sure any law enforcement official would tell you, time is precious in these cases,” said Tom Carroll, president of the Detroit-based Outdoor Advertising Association of Michigan, and vice president of Michigan Region for CBS Outdoor. “When an Amber Alert is issued or local law enforcement gets word a dangerous criminal is in the area, we can have information up on our digital billboards in a matter of minutes.”
Though some billboard companies periodically use digital billboards for law enforcement purposes, this program formalizes a commitment from the major Michigan billboard companies that have digital signs. Today’s announcement was welcomed by public safety and elected officials across Michigan including Lansing, Saginaw and Port Huron.
“In these tight budget times, it’s important for law enforcement to find new ways of partnering with private entities to boost public safety,” said Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero. “The efforts of Michigan’s leading billboard companies to catch criminals and find missing children is a perfect example of the kind of partnership that will help keep Lansing, and other cities, safe.”
Using digital billboards to fight crime has a proven track record of success. Crime Stoppers is a 501(c)3 nonprofit international organization funded by local donations which has operated in Saginaw and Bay Counties since the 1970s. In the past two years, the program has caught a number of suspects after placing their picture on local digital billboards.
“The digital billboards have been a huge help,” said Bart R. Dexter, Crime Stoppers Coordinator. “We’ve had a number of instances where we put a suspect’s picture up on a billboard, and within minutes, we’re getting calls from neighbors, coworkers and even family members.”
When an AMBER Alert is issued or police officials believe a suspect is in a specific area, all pertinent information will be sent to the billboard companies — description of the suspect or missing child, a phone number to call with tips, suspected crime, and a photo or photos if available. The companies use electronic templates to quickly create a digital image, which can be posted on the digital billboards within moments.
“It’s a tremendous public service to have this commitment from all of the major billboard companies in Michigan that have digital signs,” said Chief Mark Alley, Lansing Police Department. “Having the ability to quickly get information, including pictures, to motorists where the suspect could be traveling will be an enormous help in saving kids and catching criminals when time is of the essence.”
Lamar, Adams and CBS own a combined 32 digital billboards in Michigan in the areas of Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids, Detroit, Kalamazoo, Lansing, Mt. Pleasant, Port Huron, Saginaw, Bay City, and Traverse City.
“Our goal is to help authorities apprehend potentially dangerous criminals and help keep our streets safe,” said Mark Sherwood, Vice President/Regional Manager of Lamar Advertising. Lamar has donated billboards to help the Crime Stoppers campaign in the past. “I hope the success billboards have had in a catching suspects in Tri-Cities area is replicated throughout the state.”
The Crime Awareness and Prevention Through a Unified Reporting Effort (C.A.P.T.U.R.E.) program in Port Huron and St. Clair Counties can attribute the apprehension of 20 suspects in 2007 (out of 30 total arrests) to the use of digital billboards urging people to call their tip line.
“These billboards are located throughout the city in high traffic areas; people obviously pay attention to them and call us with tips,” said Lt. Dennis Maurey from C.A.P.T.U.R.E. “Digital billboards provide us a network to quickly get the word out that we wouldn’t otherwise have.”
