Houston Eyes Cameras At Apartment Complexes, Private Homes

[Nbadan]

Houston eyes cameras at apartment complexes
By PAM EASTON
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER


HOUSTON -- Houston's police chief on Wednesday proposed placing surveillance cameras in apartment complexes, downtown streets, shopping malls and even private homes to fight crime during a shortage of police officers.

"I know a lot of people are concerned about Big Brother, but my response to that is, if you are not doing anything wrong, why should you worry about it?" Chief Harold Hurtt told reporters Wednesday at a regular briefing.

Houston is facing a severe police shortage because of too many retirements and too few recruits, and the city has absorbed 150,000 hurricane evacuees who are filling apartment complexes in crime-ridden neighborhoods. The City Council is considering a public safety tax to pay for more officers.

Building permits should require malls and large apartment complexes to install surveillance cameras, Hurtt said. And if a homeowner requires repeated police response, it is reasonable to require camera surveillance of the property, he said.

Scott Henson, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Police Accountability Project in Texas, called Hurtt's building-permit proposal "radical and extreme" and said it may violate the Fourth Amendment's protections against unreasonable searches.

Andy Teas with the Houston Apartment Association said that although some would consider cameras an invasion of privacy, "I think a lot of people would appreciate the thought of extra eyes looking out for them."

Such cameras are costly, Houston Mayor Bill White said, "but on the other hand we spend an awful lot for patrol presence." He called the chief's proposal a "brainstorm" rather than a decision.

The program would require City Council approval.

Seattle PI (http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Police_Cameras.html)

Everyone in Houston should pitch in and hire a free-lance pavoratzzi to follow around Chief Harold Hurtt, his wife, and family. Then we'll see if he stills holds true to his 'if your not doing anything wrong' phylosophy.

[disruptivehair]

Ugh, I live in the UK which is the most heavily-filmed society in the world, with more CCTV cameras per square mile than any other on earth. Cameras are everywhere; you are constantly being filmed. I'm sick of it. They're going to start recording license plate numbers on major roads; that information is going to be fed into a central database so that the movements of nearly every car on the road in the UK can be tracked by the government.

I can't wait to leave. Big Brother is truly watching here; I'd hate to see the same thing happen in Texas.

[Nbadan]

Too late. You can't go anywhere here without being caught on traffic cameras, private business camera, city security cameras.

[disruptivehair]

Too late. You can't go anywhere here without being caught on traffic cameras, private business camera, city security cameras.


You'll be filmed more times per day in the UK, that's for sure. I don't mind traffic cameras as long as they can't read my license plate, but I wouldn't believe the govt if they told me they couldn't anyway.

[SpursWoman]

Too late. You can't go anywhere here without being caught on traffic cameras, private business camera, city security cameras.


I have no problem with cameras in stores and convenience stores that help apprehend shoplifters (who jack up prices for all of us) and catch robbers, especially those robbers who shoot/kill/or otherwise injure innocent bystanders or employees of that store.

Sorry if you guys are having loss-of-freedom issues with that.

[disruptivehair]

I have no problem with cameras in stores and convenience stores that help apprehend shoplifters (who jack up prices for all of us) and catch robbers, especially those robbers who shoot/kill/or otherwise injure innocent bystanders or employees of that store.

Sorry if you guys are having loss-of-freedom issues with that.


I expect cameras in places like that because they get knocked over a lot. But I wouldn't want cameras watching me everywhere I go, like what goes on here. There aren't any in my neighborhood, but we live in a village outside of a small city so I wouldn't expect there to be many. In the center of town, you can't go anywhere without being on film and it pisses me off.

[Nbadan]

CHICAGO — Surveillance cameras — aimed at government buildings, train platforms and intersections here — might soon be required at corner taverns and swanky nightclubs.

Mayor Richard Daley wants to require bars open until 4 a.m. to install security cameras that can identify people entering and leaving the building. Other businesses open longer than 12 hours a day, including convenience stores, eventually would have to do the same.

Daley's proposed city ordinance adds a dimension to security measures installed after the Sept. 11 attacks.

USA Today (http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-02-14-chicago-cameras_x.htm)

We'll get those partying terra' is

[xrayzebra]

Yep and more camera's to come. At intersections to catch "Red Light Runners".
and make them safer (intersections) If you believe that I got a bridge in Hidalgo county I will
sell you. It is a revenue generator, pure and simple. The politicians want more
money and what better way than sit up a camera, take a few pics and mail you
the bill. Everyone have a nice day and smile, you are on candid camera.

[Yonivore]

I don't have a problem with cameras per se. It's when government attempts to aggregate the footage in an effort to build a massive database that will tell them where everyone was a at a particular time.

As in the case of that little girl who was abducted at the car wash and murdered; they can be useful in solving a crime. So, in that respect, I'm all for them. If, on the other hand, government demanded that the car wash owner install a camera and, further, compelled the owner to turn over footage or allow an external feed to the police, I'd have a problem.

Red light cameras are the same. If you don't want a ticket, don't run a red light. I don't even care if they reduce accidents.

But, face it, cameras are everywhere. More so on private property than public. But, unless the cameras are recording you when you have a reasonable expectation of privacy there's not much use in whining about them.

[SpursWoman]

unless the cameras are recording you when you have a reasonable expectation of privacy there's not much use in whining about them.


Like when they used to have them in department store dressing rooms many years ago?

:wow :wow :oops :lol

[Yonivore]

Like when they used to have them in department store dressing rooms many years ago?

:wow :wow :oops :lol
Hey! It was a science project...