This morning’s Virginian Pilot has an article about surveillance cameras being installed in East Ocean View as a way of combating crime.
Cities across the country have installed surveillance cameras in crowded or high-crime areas.
[…]
“The cameras are so technologically sound,” he said, “they can read a beer label from somebody drinking a beer inside a car.”
My first instinct was “Oh, no! Big Brother!” especially in light of the comment from Councilman Paul Riddick, who said, according to the article, that “law-abiding citizens should not fear cameras.” I hate that excuse.
My concern, of course, is privacy. But is there any expectation of privacy when you are in public? I don’t think so. I can’t think of a single thing that one could do in public that would be protected by an issue of privacy.
Is there opportunity for misuse of the cameras? Not any more than any other police action. So, if the cameras reduce crime in the area, then I’m not seeing a problem with them.
Another proposal in the effort to combat crime, according to the article, is criminal background checks by landlords of potential renters. What bothers me about this is the potential that such checks will be used to deny folks the ability to rent an apartment. What limits will be placed on the use of the information? Will someone with a 10-year-old conviction – and none since then – be unable to rent?
These topics will be a part of the Town Hall Meeting in EOV tonight. While I don’t live in EOV, I’m not far from it. My concern regarding crime is that it needs to be stopped, not simply moved from one location to the next.
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
hey, if we can have soliders in iraq, the city of norfolk can put foot solders in EOV, meaning police on the ground out of the cars walking the beat, ‘putting people frist’ is not what norfolk, wants to do. bottom line that just another election issue for next year.
The Virginia Beach PD used their Biloion dollar surveillance system to spy on girls on the boardwalk. In DC, the sub-contractor was caught shortening the yellow light duration in order to make more money from their “red light” cameras. All the cameras do is destroy our civil liberties, without providing one iota of additional security.
We also are in the process of creating a separate class of citizen; the watcher class. These are those greasy fingered creeps who spend their days in darkened rooms watching their felow citizens with the hope of catching us in some salacious act. These watchers, whether they are employed by Target, Wal Mart or by local government, are the lowest scum of the earth. They produce nothing. They only watch us and play their creepy little mind games.
Citizens must rebel against the surveillance society, before we are told that we simply have no expectation of personal privacy.
What is most often overlooked is that the primary rationale for such surveillance, Islamo-fascist terrorism: the perpetrators are indeed people who would LOVE to have their criminal act recorded for posterity.
It reminds me of “Special Prosecutors” (Inquisitors) who badger innocent people to try to find a crime, then, if they cannot find a real crime, charge someone with “obstructing justice” when he forgets trivial details from years past.