This is a rant about two things: security cameras, and the complete lack of journalistic integrity at the San Francisco Chronicle.
First off, some background: Four years ago, our yuppie archetype mayor Gavin Newsom installed "security" cameras at public spaces in hopes of reducing violent crimes at those locations. There are some parts of San Francisco (such as the 16th/Mission BART station) where there have been repeated problems with assaults, robberies, and other violent crimes. Newsom's plan was met with skepticism by civil libertarians and law enforcement alike. But Newsom's allies in the "business community" and at Hearst Corporation's San Francisco Chronicle applauded the effort, most likely because the city would be spending money with certain businesses to implement the system.
Now a study on those cameras has concluded that they're not effective at deterring violent crime. They seem to have a marginal effect on property crimes in the area of the cameras, but I suspect they just shift property crime to other areas. But the cameras were touted as primarily a deterrent to violent crime. That's where the Chronicle comes in. They were the cameras' chief cheerleader. And today their headline on the story read "Mixed Results for Security Cameras." (NOTE: I won't link to the Chronicle's site or story here. The last thing I want to do is promote a propaganda rag masquerading as journalism) Mixed results? Read the fucking study, people. I suspect Hearst Corporation had that headline queued up months ago. They've never let inconvenient reality change their editorial-driven "coverage."
Mel Washington's Beautiful Voice
3 years ago
Posts
2 comments:
As a former security employee (work study, in college) and a certified Plant Engineer in the 90s, I've worked with, and installed, several security cameras in institutional and industrial settings. I've also worked with my previous HOA on selection and location of cameras on the neighborhood pool where I used to live. I have seen where properly installed, and monitored cameras CAN work well. Proper lighting, proper resolution, proper location, fastidious monitoring by trained personnel, and cameras can help to deter crime, prosecute perpetrators, and secure assets.
The link provide tellingly states: "... hurt by lack of training and oversight, a failure to integrate footage with other police efforts, poor quality cameras... but out of concern for people’s privacy, police are not allowed to monitor cameras in real time. Investigators must wait until a crime is reported before looking at footage."
Not allowed to monitor in real time, AND the citizens KNOW that?? Then YES, the cameras are worse than useless. There's no dynamic, time-based reference point or accountability. Snatch-and-grab crimes (against property of persons) are actually encouraged by such an inane system.
Point is, cameras CAN work, but the politically correct clusterf*ck SF has installed are a waste of money.
16th & Mission BART is THAT bad? It DID look Questionable back in October... =\ I was wondering why you came to get us from SFO. =)
16th/Mission is one of the areas they installed the cameras. That location isn't particularly heinous (as you probably saw), but there were a lot of complaints about drug dealing there. In fact, the cops kind of tolerate that stuff at 16th/Mission, in order to keep it away from the more politically influential neighborhoods.
The restrictions on the cameras were the result of the process, and not some homage to being PC. Many folks (myself included) think they're a waste of time & money. Civil libertarians (myself included) think they have some severe privacy implications, especially if the footage is archived...and it's a very small step from implementing the cameras to archiving the footage.
Ultimately, cops should be focusing on community policing and on building relationships with the community instead of reactive activities like playing Big Brother and driving around in cars. A uniformed officer walking around the intersection will do a lot more to deter crime than any security camera.
Post a Comment