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Surveillance Cameras Installed Along downtown San Diego Street By Debbi Farr Baker 12/16/05 |
This article makes a good case for the use of
CCTV Security Cameras in public, outdoor areas.
SAN DIEGO — If you look at the round, metallic-looking devices on the light poles on C Street between 5th and 6th streets downtown, you may not realize they are looking back at you.
They are
24-hour security cameras providing closed-circuit surveillance.
Mayor Jerry Sanders, County Supervisor and Transit Board Member Ron Roberts and other officials announced Thursday morning that eight of the
surveillance cameras have been installed along the corridor to crack down on crime.
They said
security cameras are a proven means of preventing crime and that they help in the apprehension and prosecution of lawbreakers.
"If you were waiting for a trolley at this station two years ago, odds are that if you looked in any direction you could've seen some type of illegal activity, drunks or drug transactions or violence," Sanders said. "Now people intent on committing crimes at this platform or nearby will think twice about doing that.
"And if they are stupid enough to still do it then we're going to have them on tape and we'll be able to go out and arrest them and get a conviction."
The
security cameras, the labor and the related computer technology and software cost about $100,000, which was donated by private businesses as the result of a joint effort between the city's C Street Task Force and the Metropolitan Transit District.
Said Roberts, "These
surveillance cameras not only make the trolley safer but they also make a very important block of downtown safer in a significant way."
The crimes most often committed in the area include drug use and sales of substances like rock cocaine, crystal meth and marijuana, along with street fights and the violence that ensues from drug and alcohol use, according to William Maheu, executive assistant chief of police.
Asked about for the specter of "Big Brother," Maheu said that people are used to having cameras around and cited banks and ATM machines as examples of places where people are always being monitored.
There are currently 88
CCTV security cameras in use at nine of the city's 53 trolley stations.
Source: signonsandiego.com
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