Civilians Run City-Wide Surveillance in Pennsylvania Town
Okay, Switched readers, here's a great debate. Lancaster, Pennsylvania is known as the home of Hershey's corporate, the town where Peeps was invented (not made -- that's Bethlehem), and the American city with the highest amount of surveillance per capita. Lancasterians have been subjected to a community-wide program that installs closed-circuit cameras on nearly every street, hosting more outdoor cameras than both San Francisco and Boston, reports LATimes.com. The Dutch Pennsylvanian city considers itself to be a prime candidate for such security measures, considering the amount of tourism its attractions receive.The argument is that, while this is a small city, Lancaster was plagued with four murders last year, and the surveillance system helped solve one of them. Post-9/11, a local crime commission suggested that cameras might help make the city safer. In response, local businesspeople, municipal officials, and otherwise concerned citizens formed a non-governmental group called the Lancaster Community Safety Coalition. With money raised from private donors and foundations, the recorders were installed and local citizens hired to keep watch. Although the coalition's executive director, Joseph Morales, is also a city councilman, no governmental organizations were directly involved in these decisions. By the same token, the coalition only employs civilians and does not answer to the city government.
Last year, the number of cameras hit 165, and surprisingly, the crime rate rose. Police explained that this was because surveillance more frequently caught lesser crimes -- infractions that often go unnoticed. The way the system works, explained Doug Winglewich, a camera operator with a degree in public administration, is that workers monitor 911 calls to assist in gathering license plates and silently watch city blocks in order to call in suspicious activity. On the program's ethical boundaries, executive director Morales told the L.A. Times, "The divorce lawyer who wants video of a husband coming out of a bar with his mistress, we won't do it." At present, the coalition does not abide by any explicit ethical guidelines, although Morales says that he is currently drafting them.
While the program has led to a lot of valid arrests, it has also received sharp criticism for infringing on citizens' rights to privacy. Lancaster mayor and self-professed civil libertarian J. Richard Gray has put the coalition -- in his words -- "on a short leash," and Pennsylvanian American Civil Liberties Union lawyer Mary Catherine Roper calls it a "phenomenally bad idea." Even the seemingly supportive police chief cited George Orwell and 'Big Brother' when he described the project to the Times.
As interconnectivity grows and technology progresses, cities are going to find themselves faced more frequently with dilemmas between privacy and watchdog methods. If the surveillance is accessible and its results useful, should cities resort to monitoring its residents, even if that means infringing on crucial American rights? Or is the right to safety the most fundamental of all? The debate rages on. [From: LATimes.com]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 17)
Matthew said 5:16PM on 6-22-2009
If you aren't doing anything wrong, you have nothing to hide.
Reply
batvette said 7:12PM on 6-22-2009
that commonly voiced statement is perhaps the worst argument ever to use in surrendering the priviledges- no, the rights of our freedoms. it assumes we are doing something wrong in the first place that the authorities have the right to watch us for, or that we have to argue we aren't doing.
more on topic, as the article also implies this surveilance net seems to be great at catching meaningless infractions while we can be certain the talented criminals will have little problem working around it. it's like the barcode scanning devices at any store today, a heavy reliance on a single technology creates a feeling of false security, several national crime gangs found a way to beat it with shielded shopping bags and went to town at malls in several states before they were caught by accident.
Alan Smithee said 3:14AM on 6-23-2009
Well if you're not doing anything wrong in your own home then you shouldn't mind if the government installs cameras there either. After all, it's sure to reduce domestic violence and child abuse right?
Fishnlwayr said 2:11PM on 6-23-2009
Matthew said: "If you aren't doing anything wrong, you have nothing to hide."
I'm not doing anything wrong when I take a leak...but it ain't none of your business unless I'm pithin' in your pocket.
Ben Roman said 2:42PM on 6-23-2009
That's not the point. I'd like to think all law enforcement are great people (and in this case it's only citizens, creepy) watching everyones moves. In this article they even stated that they would call in suspicious activity, creating more crime because they caught people doing more minor infractions. I guess I'm not as trusting as you are. Even if I'm perfect (which nobody is) gives the government the right to use video or audio "recordings" without our permission. (It used to be called spying) This stuff shouldn't even be admissable in a court of law.
What if the person operating the cameras has a criminal background (child molester?) and watches the cameras each day...for his job let's say, and he has the ability to zoom in and out.....and he of course ends up paying way too much attention to our sons and daughters on the playground at school. But you know catching someone rolling through a red light, or catching the occasional fight on tape... ok, even helping with an occasional murder like in the article is NO excuse for this type of insane breach of our privacies. (the murder case probably didn't even need the tape, but I digress.) This is it people, what we've all seen coming and we need to stop it sooner than later.
prayer4u2b said 3:39PM on 6-23-2009
Paraphrasing Ben Franklin,
People who trade their liberty for temporary security deserve neither and will lose both.
davis10oregon1 said 7:22PM on 6-23-2009
EXACTLY !
royalef said 8:41PM on 6-23-2009
You have nothing to hide... unless you are the wrong religion, wrong race, wrong sex, wrong ethnicity, wrong sexual orientation, wrong class, belong to the wrong family, wrong side of the tracks, or whatever pet peeves the little person watching the monitors has today. If you are on that person's list of wrongness--they'll see anything they can as wrong. Meanwhile, if they spot their buddy stealing a street sign-they'll look the other way.
Yeah... who watches the watchdogs?
When someone watches your home or store--theives call that casing the place.
Master Shake said 4:40PM on 6-23-2009
The United States has more prisoners than both China and Russia COMBINED, yet they manage this with less than 1/6th of their population. In the last 25 years the number of prisoners in America has increased by nearly 900% while violent crime has remained basically unchanged. How is this possible? Because you have turned SO many things into crimes that were not crimes before, or at least would never have been prosecuted. Right now there are nearly 9 MILLION Americans in jail, on parole, or awaiting trial. That's about 5% of your entire adult male population. This is not the description of a "free country" - it is the description of a police state. What is most alarming is that the general population of America has the ridiculous belief that there is a "revolving door" prison system. You imprison people for more than TEN TIMES longer on average for the same crime as Europeans do, which is certainly part of the reason why you have more than TEN TIMES the number of prisoners of ALL of Europe combined. You are CREATING career criminals by destroying the lives of young people who commit a minor crime - or sometimes an act that shouldn't even BE a crime if there was any sanity. Sure, you have nothing to worry about with cameras everywhere. LOL Enjoy your police state, fools.
Dr. Ed Gunther said 9:18PM on 6-24-2009
I also disagree. Will they help law enforcement? yes. Is it worth privacy loss? No. If everyone wore an prison monitor it would also help the law. However, this is America, and the right to privacy is one of the basic guarantees of our constitution. They stretched this privacy right in Roe Vs. Wade to include abortion. If it can be streched that far, it would certainly include cameras watching our every move on public streets. Ben Franklin once said, "Those who give up rights and freedoms in the name of security, deserve neither freedom or security". I know it makes it easier for cops, but if they want a police surveillance state, they'll have to try a different country.....Russia, N. Korea, and China come to mind. Dr. G.
doriem49 said 8:19AM on 6-24-2009
We are slowly losing our civil liberties in the name of security. It's comments like yours that is scary to me because little by little we get use to our rights slowly evaporating....big brother is watching you and me....I have nothing to hide, I just resent be watched by who knows...a stalker...if you will...it's a scary world we live in.
Lynn said 5:12PM on 6-23-2009
A thought to ponder:
"When they took the 4th Amendment, I was quiet because I didn't deal drugs.
When they took the 6th Amendment, I was quiet because I am innocent.
When they took the 2nd Amendment, I was quiet because I don't own a gun.
Now they have taken the 1st Amendment, and I can only be quiet.
– Lyle Myhr
Tom said 6:04PM on 6-23-2009
You are absolutely correct Matthew. Some people make the very false analogy of invading citizen's homes with cameras, for the sake of even more improved security. However, in the situation in the article, cameras are installed IN PUBLIC. I don't care who sees me walk down the street. I'm not a criminal. I don't care who observes me in public.
Velasco said 6:27PM on 6-23-2009
i agree
Gary Lee said 6:31PM on 6-23-2009
If you aren't doing anything wrong why do you have to have your privacy violated by being constantly watched?
Shades of 1984 and those people ask for it, amazing!!!
Jim said 6:44PM on 6-23-2009
"If you aren't doing anything wrong, you have nothing to hide." What a load of bullsh*t! Just the kind of statement that a coward would make! The point is that unless and until there's a legal need for it, what I'm doing, where I'm going, and why is nobodies business excecpt my own! And unless you're prepared to charge me with some legal offence, then you're interfering with my life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness and a couple of constitutional amendments as well! Furthermore, as those who are watching these cameras are neither hired, trained, nor have any kind of government clearence to do so, this is snooping, pure and simple, and we have laws against this sort of thing!
E wulf said 6:47PM on 6-23-2009
bull crap, thats what the nazi's said
medris01 said 6:50PM on 6-23-2009
It's the people who say "If you aren't doing anything wrong, you have nothing to hide." that are the first to violate your privacy. That statement is more an excuse for them to abuse you than it is an assurance that you won't be abused. Have the decision makers today completely forgotten Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot and the rest of them... Or are the decision makers "wanabe" dictators themselves? Like it or not, human nature overrules all the good intentions on Earth.
Jpjprich said 7:02PM on 6-23-2009
I feel the same way as you. Those that are complaining should realize that it's not private if its outside. It's the same as the cameras on the highway and on traffic lights that will issue you a ticket by mail if you are caught speeding or running a red light (respectively)
SeeLoisGo said 7:36PM on 6-23-2009
My sentiments exactly, Matthew.