Both KCK and KCMO plan a one-year trial of the surveillance technology in high-crime neighborhoods.
On Monday, police officials in both cities released the proposed locations for the digital cameras. They would be mounted on utility poles and buildings during a one-year test of the technology.As usual some dimwit neighborhood activist is serving as the spokesperson for the project. Her grandson was killed so I guess it's okay that everyone else has to witness the death of their civil rights in his honor. It's callous to note (but also true) that maybe if his family had kept a better eye on him then maybe we wouldn't all have to endure 24 hour police surveillance.
Kansas City police say they want to see how the cameras hold up to weather conditions and whether they reduce crime, help solve crimes and boost residents' peace of mind.
The Kansas City Metropolitan Crime Commission still must raise the startup money for the program, estimated to cost $250,000. The commission will seek private funds, although Kansas City, Kan., has kicked in $50,000. Kansas City, which earlier this year bought four portable surveillance cameras, has not budgeted any money for the pilot project.
Additionally, this kind of Nazi like public spying should thwart any complaints from the local cops about reporters looking into their lives. With cameras watching us all, the police have to kowtow to the same rhetorical trick that the rest of us must endure: "If you're not doing anything wrong, then you don't have anything to worry about" the saying goes. And I'm pretty sure that this is the same kind of argument you might hear right before somebody offers you a ride on a train with a hot shower and meal waiting at the end of the trip.
Coupled with the blatant disregard for civil liberties is the basic admission in employing this tactic that the KCPD cannot facilitate a working relationship with this city's most violent neighborhoods. Local police have made absolutely no progress in reaching out to these communities and are now forced to treat entire neighborhoods like criminals in order to make arrests. The sad thing is, this tactic is also doomed to failure given that many of the citiess who use these systems haven't been able to claim any noticeable improvement in their standard of living. More often, the people who really benefit from this effort are those folks who are selling the equipment that can usually doctor any statistical data in order to close a sale.
Still, the use of technology on the most violent streets in the metro area reminds me of the sophisticated weaponry used in Iraq to no avail. Despite generations of technological superiority over the Iraqis this country still finds itself in a quagmire because it failed to understand the realities on the ground . . . As the KCPD now seeks to emphasize technology over talking to people, it's clear that the same losing strategy will yield similar results in Kansas City.
cameras with bullet holes in 5... 4... 3...
ReplyDeleteRiight, an invasion of your privacy. I've got news for you. If whatever you are doing can be viewed from a public right-of-way then you have no business expecting a right to privacy. You’re outside in public dumbass! If I can see you, so can the cops. No point in bickering about the method of viewing.
ReplyDeleteThese cameras won’t be in anyone’s bedroom, they will be on the streets. You think the cops driving down your street aren't looking at whatever you do in your yard?
Frankly as a society we have failed to teach the basic principals of morals and socially acceptable behavior to a segment of the community.
Screw the cameras, I say we reinvigorate the old stockyards and funnel all of these idiots onto barges and ship them to Iraq.
This is yet another instance of worthless human beings becoming a drain on society. Those of us that behave are paying MORE MONEY to support those that do not.
Frankly I am disappointed. If the welfare set didn’t breed so much we could depend on ghetto on ghetto crime to deplete the ranks of the worthless. Too bad they all seem to be so fertile.
They plan on having citizens monitor the images on the internet? Smart criminals will turn that around and use it against the citizens. They can see you leave so they go rob your house. Remember how you accepted the cameras and the loss of your privacy when someone posts pics of you screwing your wife on a warm summer evening when you forgot to shut the window. They will zoom right in your bedroom lol.
ReplyDeleteI believe people have a right to privacy from their government. an inalienable human right to privacy from snooping government.
see EFF.org for more info