Security Going To Far?

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Police chief wants surveillance cameras in Houston apartments

By PAM EASTON
Associated Press

HOUSTON — Houston’s police chief proposed Wednesday placing surveillance cameras in apartment complexes, downtown streets, shopping malls, and even private homes as a way of combatting crime with 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?” Houston Police 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 refugees who are filling apartment complexes in crime-ridden neighborhoods. City Council is considering a public safety tax to pay for more officers.

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

“If they are putting a burden on the criminal justice system and cheating the other residents of Houston, yes,” he said. “I think people are upset when people are robbed and killed on the streets of Houston.”

Scott Henson, the director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Police Accountability Project in Texas, called Hurtt’s proposal to require surveillance cameras in building permits “radical and extreme.”

“I didn’t know that building permits included probable cause,” Henson said. “The Fourth Amendment says we have the right to be free from unreasonable searches, and I’m not sure why he thinks that they would be justified in putting people under surveillance without any reason.”

Hurtt said some apartment complexes in Houston have become crime “hot spots” and installing cameras would be less expensive than having officers stationed around the clock.

Houston Mayor Bill White said he hasn’t talked with Hurtt about his idea, but sees it as more of a “brainstorm” than a “decision.”

“I think he is constantly looking for a way to use our taxpayers’ dollars wisely,” White said. “We want to make sure peoples’ right to privacy are protected and we do things that are cost effective.”

White said the cameras are costly, “but on the other hand we spend an awful lot for patrol presence.”

Henson said an ACLU study of London’s extensive use of camera surveillance revealed the cameras help fight crime in targeted areas, such as parking garages, but are less effective in more unrestricted areas.

“Cameras can be defeated with very high tech means, like sunglasses and hats and disguises,” Henson said, laughing. “So it is very easy to thwart the cameras, but if something happens, officers have to watch hours and hours and hours of video. And while they are doing that, they are not investigating crimes.”

Andy Teas with the Houston Apartment Association said he first learned of the police chief’s idea Wednesday and found it intriguing.

“I think a lot of people would appreciate the thought of extra eyes looking out for them,” he said. “Some people would resent what they would consider to be an invasion of their privacy.”

Nearly half of Houston’s 2 million people live in 400,000 apartment units.

“I don’t think that anybody in this room believes we can afford enough police officers to put one on every corner,” the police chief said. “But we can have cameras to relay activity to the authorities so that we can have an appropriate response.”

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Daley wants security cameras at bars
By Judy Keen, USA TODAY
CHICAGO — Surveillance cameras — aimed at government buildings, train platforms and intersections here — might soon be required at corner taverns and swanky nightclubs.

A police camera, mounted with a microphone, can detect the sound of gunshots within a two-block radius.

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.

The proliferation of security cameras — especially if the government requires them in private businesses — troubles some civil liberties advocates.

"There is no reason to mandate all of those cameras unless you one day see them being linked up to the city's 911 system," says Ed Yohnka of the Illinois American Civil Liberties Union. "We have perhaps reached that moment of critical mass when people ... want to have a dialogue about how much of this is appropriate."

Milwaukee is considering requiring cameras at stores that have called police three or more times in a year. The Baltimore County Council in Maryland ordered large malls to put cameras in parking areas after a murder in one garage last year. The measure passed despite objections from business groups.

"We require shopping centers to put railings on stairs and install sprinkler systems for public safety. This is a proper next step," says Baltimore County Councilman Kevin Kamenetz, who sponsored the ordinance.

Some cities aren't going along. Schenectady, N.Y., shelved a proposal that would have required cameras in convenience stores.

"The safer we make the city, the better it is for everyone," says Chicago Alderman Ray Suarez, who first proposed mandatory cameras in some businesses. "If you're not doing anything wrong, what do you have to worry about?"

Nick Novich, owner of three Chicago bars, worries about the cost. "Every added expense ... puts a small business in greater jeopardy of going out of business," he says. Daley says cameras will deter crime, but Novich says, "That's what we're paying taxes for."

Colleen McShane, president of the Illinois Restaurant Association, says the proposal, which Daley announced last week, is an unfair burden on small businesses. "This is once again more government intrusion," she says.

Some business owners say cameras make patrons feel safer. Cameras are in all 30 Chicago bars, clubs and restaurants owned by Ala Carte Entertainment, spokeswoman Julia Shell says: "It's far more cost-effective for us to have them than not to have them."

By spring, 30 Chicago intersections will have cameras to catch drivers who run red lights. More than 2,000 cameras around the city are linked to an emergency command center, paid for in part by federal homeland security funds.

The newest "smart" cameras alert police when there's gunfire or when someone leaves a package or lingers outside public buildings. The system is based on the one in London that helped capture suspected terrorists after last summer's subway bombings.

Chicago is installing those sophisticated camera systems more aggressively than any other U.S. city, says Rajiv Shah, an assistant professor at the University of Illinois-Chicago who studies the policy implications of surveillance technology. Recording what people do in public "is just getting easier and cheaper to do," he says. "Think of your camera cellphone."