Fresno spends 1.3 M on Video Surveillance

[annm4peace]

Money for spying on citizens. Money has been cut from Recreation and from the schools yet there is always money for police.

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/01/19/18473522.php


After filming a crime with their video surveillance cameras, Fresno mayor Alan Autry and police chief Jerry Dyer held a press conference to celebrate. $1.3 million and they actually had film of a crime that had taken place. How exciting!
After working on the project for over a year and spending $1.3 million on video surveillance equipment to spy on citizens, the mayor and Fresno Police Department held a press conference to say that. . . well, their cameras filmed a crime. Fresno mayor Alan Autry and Police Chief Jerry Dyer did not claim that the video surveillance stopped the crime from happening or even that it solved the crime. The mayor and police chief said the video was used in the investigation that led to the arrest of 25 year old Jamie Stanfield. The video, shown at the press conference, showed a shooting that took place near Belmont and highway 99.

Autry and Dyer used the opportunity to promote the video surveillance project. Dyer said they currently have 47 cameras up and operating in Fresno and that they plan to have 130 cameras in operation before the end of the year. The goal is to have 250 cameras in Fresno within the next two years. ..........

In the question and answer part of the press conference Dyer was asked what the policy manual says about video surveillance and peaceful protests. Dyer was not sure and asked captain Al Maroney who helped set up the video surveillance project. Maroney was not sure either, so they asked me. I told them the manual says that they are not allowed to target peaceful protestors with video surveillance cameras. The manual says that if the cameras are in a location where a protest is being held, they don’t have to turn them off. On the other hand, it does not authorize them to position cameras so they will threaten and intimidate peaceful protestors.