April 10, 2008

For Your Own Good

The police in Washington DC want to access to a network of surveillance cameras so as to better fight crime. From yesterday's Washington Times

D.C. officials are giving police access to more than 5,000 closed-circuit TV cameras citywide that monitor traffic, schools and public housing -- a move that will give the District one of the largest surveillance networks in the country.

"The primary benefit of what we're doing is for public health and safety," said Darrell Darnell, director of the city's Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency, who announced the initiative along with Mayor Adrian M. Fenty yesterday.

There are some 5,200 already in place, and they're operated by the public schools or housing authority. What's new here is that if this initiative passes the police will be able to use them.

Not to worry, though, right? Won't they only be used to stop drug deals?

Consider how they're used right now across the pond.

From the Daily Mail (h/t Mark Steyn at NRO)

Digital speed cameras which capture drivers smoking or eating at the wheel are being introduced nationwide in a new move to hammer motorists.

Drivers will also face fines, bans and even jail for infringements such as driving without a seatbelt, using a hand-held mobile phone or overtaking across double white lines.

The hi-tech DVD cameras, which have instant playback, will also be used to provide photographic evidence against those eating sandwiches or rolling-up cigarettes at the wheel.

These are now considered serious offences under new guidelines drawn up for prosecutors

This in a country where the street crime and burglary is high and going nowhere but up.

The good news for residents of Washington DC is that council members are at least "wary" of their mayor's plan.

Conservatives like me normally bash groups like the ACLU, but this time they're right in their criticism of such plans. They even have a section of their website on the public video surveillance.

So, will our cameras eventually be used to peer into our car windows to see if we're eating while driving? Maybe and maybe not.

But we do know that in recent years we've seen the obsession with public safety taken to lengths never before thought possible. It was one thing to ban smoking in the workplace, quite another to to outlaw "trans fats" in restaurants. Maybe soon we'll be told that unless we acquiesce to laws against eating while driving, we're ogres who want to see people die needlessly, and if they're injured "we all pay for it".

Liberals are worried about FISA court this and FISA court that, and while I understand their concern I'm far more worried about the nanny-state police who want to put a camera on every telephone pole "for your own good".

Posted by Tom at 9:00 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack