Police want to expand video camera 'virtual patrols'

[Kadie]

Police want to expand video camera 'virtual patrols'

The Associated Press
Last Updated: July 19, 2004, 11:30:25 AM PDT


LOS ANGELES (AP) - The Police Department wants to expand video camera "virtual patrols," citing a 45 percent drop in crime at MacArthur Park near downtown where cameras were installed as part of a pilot project.

"Basically, what you can do is virtual policing," Assistant Chief George Gascon said. "You can monitor a significant number of areas without having to have an officer at each scene."

The cameras are an essential crime-fighting tool in an era of dwindling budgets, he said.

With the MacArthur Park successes, the Police Department wants to expand video camera surveillance in crime hot spots in other areas of the city, including the San Fernando Valley. The cameras cost up to $10,000 each.

more... http://www.modbee.com/state_wire/story/8869453p-9758793c.html

[aden_nak]

1. Uh-huh.

And suppose there is a crime. The camera, I assume, will incapacitate the criminals until the police show up? Or will the crime go unprevented until an officer is able to arive at the scene?

Between the cost of the cameras, the cost of the equipment, the cost of coordinating and supporting the entire operation. . . not to mention the cost of replacing the cameras as they are vandalized and broken. . . couldn't we just, ya know, hire more cops? As someone who works in IT, I know damn well that the true cost of a new technology initiative is always several times the budget that is originaly estimated. You never see an entry on a budget for Murphy's Law.

[mhr]

2. Why Of Course - The Incapacitating Camera Is The Next Step In Ashcroft's

America.

------
Never Forget The Face Of American Fascism'THIS IS NO DIFFERENT THAN WHAT HAPPENS AT THE SKULL & BONES INITIATION...I'M TALKING ABOUT PEOPLE HAVING A GOOD TIME. THESE PEOPLE -- YOU EVER HEARD OF EMOTIONAL RELEASE? YOU EVER HEARD OF NEEDING TO BLOW SOME STEAM OFF?'

[Zorra]

3. Big brother and his cameras.

"Since the cameras were installed in mid-January, more than 150 arrests have been made with the aid of them. Most involved felony narcotics charges"

The best way for citizens to combat this invasion of privacy is to stage phony crimes in front of these cameras, and then videotape police harrassing innocent people who appear on film to have committed a crime but in fact did absolutely nothing that would warrant being accosted by the police.