Caught On Tape February 11, 2008
Posted by Webmaster in 2nd Amendment & CCW, Black Crime, Privacy Rights.trackback
D.C. police are now watching live images from dozens of surveillance cameras posted in high-crime parts of the city, hoping to respond faster to shootings, robberies and other offenses and catch suspects before they get away.
Since August 2006, the city has installed 73 cameras across the city, mostly on utility poles, at a cost of about $4 million. But until recently, officers were using them mainly as an investigative tool — checking the recordings after crimes were committed in hopes of turning up leads and evidence.
Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier said she thought the department wasn’t making the most of the technology and was missing opportunities to more quickly solve crimes — or even stop them in progress. “I thought, ‘Why the heck aren’t we watching them?’ ” Lanier said.
(snip)
And so, for about 40 hours a week, a small team of officers in the department’s Joint Operations Command Center watches the live feeds from 10 to 15 of the cameras. They choose locations based on the latest crime trends — focusing, for example, on areas in Southeast Washington beset by gun violence.
(snip)
“All of [the cameras] should be monitored,” said community activist Sandra Seegars, who lives in Ward 8, which has the city’s highest rate of incidents of gun violence. “In my neighborhood, we’re not concerned about privacy — just keeping crime down and catching people who are committing the crimes.”
Okay, so “gun violence” is the problem, yet the DCPD is using the cameras to catch “suspects” and “people.” Why not simply arrest the guns?
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