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Eric Hartley:Big Brother looking the wrong way?

Published 07/15/08

Just before 2:30 a.m. Sunday, as the unblinking eyes of Annapolis' new surveillance cameras kept watch over downtown, an 18-year-old man was shot in the city.

But like nearly every violent crime, this shooting happened far away from the Historic District and its pretty Colonial buildings.

The teen was shot on Bowman Court, so no cameras were watching.

That's because the four surveillance cameras city police have quietly put in place with a $65,000 grant, and the 40 more that are planned, are funded by Department of Homeland Security grants, as Lisa Beisel reported in The Sunday Capital this week.

So they're supposed to be trained on government buildings, transportation systems and some other public places - "critical infrastructure," in bureaucratic language.

What worries me most is not the Big Brother creepiness, but the misplaced priorities.

While the cameras are watching Main Street, people are being shot, drugs are being dealt and robberies are being committed - all elsewhere. And sure, police and the city Housing Authority would very much like some cameras for that, too. Sometime. When they get the money.

But then, this backward thinking reflects our skewed national focus. We spend billions to fight terrorism largely because 3,000 people were killed on Sept. 11, 2001.

Meanwhile, about 12,000 people a year are killed with firearms in the United States, according to the official National Center for Health Statistics. But they're not handing out much grant money to fight that these days.

As the sympathetic FBI agent told the Baltimore policeman on the popular cable TV show "The Wire" a few years ago, inner-city drug-fueled violence just doesn't rate with the feds any more; the politicians all want to look tough on terrorism.

So violent crime, which is a much bigger problem day to day, falls by the wayside.

Eric Brown, executive director of the Annapolis Housing Authority, said he and new city Police Chief Michael Pristoop have had preliminary discussions about cameras around public housing. But there's no time frame, and they've made no decisions on who would buy the cameras.

"Cost is always a factor," Mr. Brown said.

Not when it comes to terrorism.

Ed Sherlock, the city's emergency management director and former fire chief, said it sounds like a good idea to put cameras around public housing. But as he put it, speaking of the housing authority, "that would be with their money."

"The grants are very specific on what you can use them for and what you can't," said Mr. Sherlock, whose office got the camera grant for the city Police Department.

I'm tempted to point out that cameras won't be much help if al Qaeda flies a plane into the State House. But perhaps they could help in some other kind of terrorism case; we have no idea what form an attack could take.

And already the downtown cameras have been used in some criminal investigations. Police pointed out they helped catch a suspect in the thefts from parking meters, and, as the camera network expands, it could help solve more crimes even if the reason it exists is to fight terrorism.

To be sure, cameras are no panacea; if bad guys - whether terrorists or common criminals - know where they are, they can avoid them or move to the next street, creating a need for ever more cameras. And the prospect of turning American cities into London, which seems to have a camera trained on every pub and chip shop, should give us pause.

But Mr. Brown said he thinks cameras could be a good crime deterrent in public housing and could help in prosecuting those who still break the law.

He said they also would make residents feel safer, and he doesn't think many would be disturbed by the electronic surveillance.

"Most law-abiding individuals wouldn't be that uncomfortable with it," Mr. Brown said.

However, when cameras have been proposed in the past in Annapolis, privacy concerns have helped kill such plans. We'll see whether the current furor about crime, including the vaunted "Capital City Safe Streets Coalition," will be enough to overcome those hurdles.

Oh, about that shooting Sunday on Bowman Court, one of the properties Mr. Brown oversees: Luckily, the victim was released from the hospital after being hit once in the arm and once in the buttocks.

Police said they had few leads and no witnesses came forward initially. Some people heard the shots, of course.

But as usual, nobody saw a thing.

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You missed the point Eric - 2008-07-22 15:39:31

The local crime that you are concerned about is a local issue that should be dealt with by local law enforcement (with some help from the affected communities??) Homeland Security is here so that another 3000 don't get killed. And since no IEDs have been detonated on the beltway or anywhere else, one could surmise that they are doing their job.

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Alex R. - Cape Coral, FL - Karma: Bad

cont... - 2008-07-21 16:56:52

I've also seen some very strange stuff with "locals" targeting tourists who are "lost" and have turned my car around and offered them assistance to get "unlost". This has happened more than once on West Street less than 1/4 mile from the police station.
We ALL need to stand up for our rights, and our tourists rights, and stop being passive observers. EVERYBODY has a cell phone camera. Who needs "Homeland Security" when we all have "You Tube"? Good "ole' fashioned" police work starts with you, my friend!! It ends with the Police and the Judiciary!! You need to take control and stand up for your rights and other peoples rights and do the correct thing. STOP running away!! Don't expect the "government" to stand up for you. They are busy running away and passing the political buck!! Passive submission should be made a crime and, in some places, it IS!!! Perhaps Annapolis needs to pass a law that says we all need to be proactive in crime enforcement. Excommunicate the criminals to some island like the English did when they sent criminals here and Australia. One way ticket. Or some oil rig in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico. Or else be passive and watch your own community buckle during a crisis because you don't even know your next door neighbor and you are only looking out for yourselves.

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douglas moore - annapolis, MD - Karma: Bad

what? - 2008-07-21 16:56:26

OK...then you put on a cops uniform and walk through Newtown like some Keystone Cop twirling you billy club. Your clothes better be made of high quality titanium mesh. The cops don't go anywhere near where they will be in just as much danger as you would be if you went there (to buy crack). Or else YOU would be there, right? NO! ...You live in Odenton. I work a few blocks away from subsidized housing here in Annapolis, and have had "random" bullets land at my feet. What we need are EYES on the CRIME!! Too bad if that violates some criminals "civil rights". Getting shot, robbed, and assaulted violates our civil rights. Who is supporting our civil rights? The ACLU? not!!!! NOBODY is who!! Cameras trained to watch "tourorists" ($65,000 for 4 of these???) are stealing your tax dollars and not making you any safer. These are a reuse to make the town seem "safe" for investors. Now, I take enforcement into my own hands by simply confronting criminals. We ALL need to do that. THIS is OUR city. A little RISK goes a long way to drive out the "insurgents". (We ask our troops to do that way far away in Iraq but not here at home? What is wrong with this picture?) When I see somebody "thinking" about stealing a bike, I park myself right there and wait for them to return and then confront them myself. "Hey, ...is that your bike? You want me to take your picture and then call the cops?" cont...

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douglas moore - annapolis, MD - Karma: Bad

Walking the beat - 2008-07-20 11:24:05

What is needed in the City's high crime areas is some good old fashioned police work. Get the police out of their cars and walking the beat in the neighborhoods. We need proactive police work, not just someone to show up after the fact and write a report.

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Chris W. - Odenton, MD - Karma: Bad