Wednesday, February 15, 2006 · Last updated 4:14 p.m. PT Houston eyes cameras at apartment complexes
By PAM EASTON ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER HOUSTON -- Houston's police chief on Wednesday proposed placing surveillance cameras in apartment complexes, downtown streets, shopping malls and even private homes to fight crime during a shortage of police officers. "I know a lot of people are concerned about Big Brother, but my response to that is, if you are not doing anything wrong, why should you worry about it?" Chief Harold Hurtt told reporters Wednesday at a regular briefing. Houston is facing a severe police shortage because of too many retirements and too few recruits, and the city has absorbed 150,000 hurricane evacuees who are filling apartment complexes in crime-ridden neighborhoods. The City Council is considering a public safety tax to pay for more officers. Building permits should require malls and large apartment complexes to install surveillance cameras, Hurtt said. And if a homeowner requires repeated police response, it is reasonable to require camera surveillance of the property, he said. Scott Henson, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Police Accountability Project in Texas, called Hurtt's building-permit proposal "radical and extreme" and said it may violate the Fourth Amendment's protections against unreasonable searches. Andy Teas with the Houston Apartment Association said that although some would consider cameras an invasion of privacy, "I think a lot of people would appreciate the thought of extra eyes looking out for them." Such cameras are costly, Houston Mayor Bill White said, "but on the other hand we spend an awful lot for patrol presence." He called the chief's proposal a "brainstorm" rather than a decision. The program would require City Council approval. -------- Surveillance Cameras To Monitor Santa Monica Promenade, Pier POSTED: 7:56 am PST February 15, 2006 UPDATED: 8:16 am PST February 15, 2006 SANTA MONICA, Calif. -- Santa Monica's 3rd Street Promenade is the latest public place that will soon apparently be under the watchful eye of police surveillance cameras. Tuesday night the Santa Monica City Council has given the green light for a new video surveillance system at the 3rd Street Promenade and the Santa Monica Pier. The video cameras will monitor areas visited by thousands of people. City officials say they decided on the plan after suspicious people took pictures of some of the facilities there. "Some men were videotaping in a manner that was inconsistent with tourist photography. They were photographing access roads and security structures," said Chief James Butts with the Santa Monica Police Department. The system will go online as soon as the cameras and recording system are installed. ------ Daley wants security cameras at bars By Judy Keen, USA TODAY CHICAGO Surveillance cameras aimed at government buildings, train platforms and intersections here might soon be required at corner taverns and swanky nightclubs. A police camera, mounted with a microphone, can detect the sound of gunshots within a two-block radius. A police camera, mounted with a microphone, can detect the sound of gunshots within a two-block radius. File photo/AP Mayor Richard Daley wants to require bars open until 4 a.m. to install security cameras that can identify people entering and leaving the building. Other businesses open longer than 12 hours a day, including convenience stores, eventually would have to do the same. Daley's proposed city ordinance adds a dimension to security measures installed after the Sept. 11 attacks. The proliferation of security cameras especially if the government requires them in private businesses troubles some civil liberties advocates. "There is no reason to mandate all of those cameras unless you one day see them being linked up to the city's 911 system," says Ed Yohnka of the Illinois American Civil Liberties Union. "We have perhaps reached that moment of critical mass when people ... want to have a dialogue about how much of this is appropriate." Milwaukee is considering requiring cameras at stores that have called police three or more times in a year. The Baltimore County Council in Maryland ordered large malls to put cameras in parking areas after a murder in one garage last year. The measure passed despite objections from business groups. "We require shopping centers to put railings on stairs and install sprinkler systems for public safety. This is a proper next step," says Baltimore County Councilman Kevin Kamenetz, who sponsored the ordinance. Some cities aren't going along. Schenectady, N.Y., shelved a proposal that would have required cameras in convenience stores. "The safer we make the city, the better it is for everyone," says Chicago Alderman Ray Suarez, who first proposed mandatory cameras in some businesses. "If you're not doing anything wrong, what do you have to worry about?" Nick Novich, owner of three Chicago bars, worries about the cost. "Every added expense ... puts a small business in greater jeopardy of going out of business," he says. Daley says cameras will deter crime, but Novich says, "That's what we're paying taxes for." Colleen McShane, president of the Illinois Restaurant Association, says the proposal, which Daley announced last week, is an unfair burden on small businesses. "This is once again more government intrusion," she says. Some business owners say cameras make patrons feel safer. Cameras are in all 30 Chicago bars, clubs and restaurants owned by Ala Carte Entertainment, spokeswoman Julia Shell says: "It's far more cost-effective for us to have them than not to have them." By spring, 30 Chicago intersections will have cameras to catch drivers who run red lights. More than 2,000 cameras around the city are linked to an emergency command center, paid for in part by federal homeland security funds. The newest "smart" cameras alert police when there's gunfire or when someone leaves a package or lingers outside public buildings. The system is based on the one in London that helped capture suspected terrorists after last summer's subway bombings. Chicago is installing those sophisticated camera systems more aggressively than any other U.S. city, says Rajiv Shah, an assistant professor at the University of Illinois-Chicago who studies the policy implications of surveillance technology. Recording what people do in public "is just getting easier and cheaper to do," he says. "Think of your camera cellphone." --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "telecom-cities" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/telecom-cities -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
