It might look like something out of a Stars Wars movie, but “Sky Watch,” a mobile surveillance tower that extends to 24 feet in height, is very much for real. It’s been used along the Mexican border to spot illegal immigrants, and the U.S Army has several in Iraq where each model is fitted with M-16 ready gun ports.

Now Sky Watch is coming to a street near you: East Fordham Road to be precise, according to Kevin Harrington, the commanding officer of the 46th Precinct. Eight officers and a sergeant from the 46 have received training, he said.

The manned tower, a hydraulic lift complete with cameras, high-powered spotlights, and tinted, bulletproof windows, will be giving users – and there’s room for two at a time –an unprecedented view of the borough’s liveliest shopping district.

“[Sky Watch] allows an officer to be above a crowd. It can take the place of two or three or four officers on the ground,” said Howard Schemer, director of sales at New Heights Manufacturing, the Georgia-based company behind the venture. “It acts as a deterrent as well as cutting down on illegal activity.”

According to an NYPD police spokesperson, "Sky Watch gives the police literally the ‘high ground,’ from which to observe street conditions [and] it is also a potential investigative tool with the ability to capture and record images."

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly was keen to acquire Sky Watch units, "Because they are mobile and could be deployed quickly to monitor both large events and conditions at high-crime neighborhoods."

So far, the NYPD has purchased two towers, which cost up to $100,000 each, and has ordered a third, which should be ready in February said Schemer. One has been deployed in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, where it helped cut crime, police say. The other was parked briefly in rapidly gentrifying East Harlem, where, according to a New York Post article, a number of residents were angry that the tower’s sole purpose seemed to be to protect two luxury high rises. The towers also watched over last year’s Macy’s Parade and the U.S. Tennis Open in Queens.

It’s now the Bronx’s turn. And buzzing Fordham Road, which winds through three high-crime neighborhoods, is a natural choice.

Harrington doesn't know for sure when Sky Watch will arrive. "Hopefully we'll see it sooner rather than later," he said, adding that it would allow an officer to see four blocks in either direction.

Dan Bernstein, deputy director of the Fordham Bedford Business Improvement District, said he knew nothing about it, but said that he was speaking to the police about putting up more security cameras in the area.

The New York Civil Liberties Union, for one, has serious concerns about the growing number of these cameras popping up in the city. In Fall of 2006, they released a report called, “Who’s Watching? Video Camera Surveillance in New York City and the Need for Public Oversight.” And the organization is uncomfortable with Sky Watch too.

“While we’re told that surveillance devices like Sky Watch help reduce crime, there’s not empirical evidence that suggests this is the case,” said Maggie Gram, a spokesperson. “The growing proliferation [of these devices] undermines the right to privacy, free speech, expression and association.”

Schemer disagrees. “It’s not about Big Brother watching you,” he said. “[Sky Watch] is about keeping people safe.”

Only time will tell what Bronx residents think of their lofty new neighbor.