Houston police chief wants cameras on homes, streets

From: USA Today Posted 2/15/2006 7:56 PM

HOUSTON (AP) — 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.

For more Click Here

Colorado Endorses Cameras Too!

Chicago sold on video security

Voters like camera network

By Gary Washburn
Tribune staff reporter
Published February 18, 2006

As Mayor Richard Daley pushes to increase video surveillance in public places across the city, a Tribune/WGN-TV poll has found that the city's security cameras have overwhelming support among Chicago residents.

The city's surveillance network includes more than 2,000 cameras in such sites as transit stations, streets and public housing complexes. Included are about 100 police devices, featuring flashing blue lights, on utility poles in high-crime areas.

Gwen Rivera, a poll participant and Northwest Side resident, recalls the video images of a young girl being abducted by a man in an out-of-state case that made national news.

Rivera, 62, believes the presence of cameras can help reduce the number of such incidents and give potential perpetrators "a thought before they would do something," she said.

"My sense is that the poll reflects what I hear in the community," said Ald. Joe Moore (49th). "People are overwhelmingly in favor of cameras. We've got three [police cameras] in my community, and they are popular."

At Morse and Glenwood Avenues in Rogers Park, where one of the devices has been in place for about a year, serious crime has declined by more than 20 percent, Moore said. Statistics are not available yet at the other two locations, both on Howard Street , where cameras were installed late last year, the alderman said.

But "people tell me they feel a lot safer walking on the street--a lot less suspicious activity, hanging out, suspected drug activity."

Some police cameras are deployed in Ald. Ed Smith's 28th Ward on the West Side , and Smith said he is "looking for more."

Community leaders say, "`Do something about the problem,'" the alderman said. "`The drugs are killing us. The gangs are a major problem. We want the cameras.'"

The Daley administration is seeking to link security cameras in office and apartment buildings, as well as other private properties, to the city's system on a voluntary basis, connecting them to the 911 center on the Near West Side.

"A lot of companies downtown" are signed up, the mayor said recently, though officials declined to list them.

More city cameras are at the top of his security wish list, the mayor said.

Civil libertarians have acknowledged that cameras focused on public areas do not raise constitutional questions.

But Ed Yohnka, a spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, believes the city's surveillance network has received a positive response so far because cameras are being touted as crime-fighting tools.

A proposal by Ald. Ray Suarez (31st) would require businesses open at least 12 hours a day to install cameras in parking lots and inside their property. Daley supports the concept, though he believes that certain "mom and pop" businesses should be exempted.

Harris, the retiree from the South Side, likes the concept despite her qualms about the city cameras. "For stores that are open late at night or in an isolated place, I think it is a very good idea," she said.

Call for appointments 281-710-7177 or 713 - 429-1591

 

g