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Chicago's Camera Network Is Everywhere
DesScorp writes "Over the past few years, the City of Chicago has installed video cameras all over the city. Now the Wall Street Journal reports that the city has not only installed its own cameras for law enforcement purposes, but with the aid of IBM, has built a network that possibly links thousands of video surveillance cameras all over Chicago. Possibly, because the city refuses to confirm just how many cameras are in the network. Critics say that Chicago is becoming the city of Big Brother. 'The city links the 1,500 cameras that police have placed in trouble spots with thousands more—police won't say how many—that have been installed by other government agencies and the private sector in city buses, businesses, public schools, subway stations, housing projects and elsewhere. Even home owners can contribute camera feeds. Rajiv Shah, an adjunct professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago who has studied the issue, estimates that 15,000 cameras have been connected in what the city calls Operation Virtual Shield, its fiber-optic video-network loop.' There are so many camera feeds coming in that police and officials can't monitor them all, but when alerted to a situation, can zoom in on the area affected. The ACLU has requested a total number of video feeds and cameras, but as of yet, this information has not been supplied."
Maybe the amount of rats that infest the city will finally go down. And I'm not talking about rodentia.
As I stated, it's been going on for years
I'm not defending Obama, just stating the obvious fact of the matter
Although stories like this will bring out the "Obama did it conspiracy" crack pots
The police state America really got under way with Patriot Act, DHS, AT&T wire tapping, etc etc under bush/cheney
Although if I lived in Chicago, I would probably welcome greater surveillance as a deterrent to violent crime. Glad I don't ..
"Suppose you were an idiot...and suppose you were a member of Congress...but I repeat myself." Mark Twain
I only have time for a quick reply and wont be online for a few days, so I'll just comment on a couple of points.
Several points in your post such as this indicate that the benefit of imprisonment to you is that it makes you (as you put yourself in the role of the victim) feel better. I'm not sure revenge is a motive for imprisonment that I agree with necessarily. I'm more in favour of restitution than imprisonment which only turns out people far worse than they went in for the most part, as well as often forcing them into the very circumstances when they come out, that led them to commit the crimes for which they were put in. It's not easy building a life after prison which is a strong contributing factor to repeat offenses. I suspect from your post that you see a large difference between yourself and criminals, whereas I see the difference between criminals and non-criminals to be in large part the circumstances people find themselves in. You may disagree but if that's the case, you must explain the disparity in crime rates between different demographics to me.
This is prejudicial language. These people are not "allowed" to live off taxpayers. They are forced to do so. You would find very few indeed that wouldn't stop doing this and leave were they allowed to. It is a common complaint that prisoners get to live off taxpayers but it is logically incorrect to blame someone for that which you yourself force upon them.
Thirdly, you talk in the abstract but draw conclusions in the specific. Repeatedly you illustrate how bad prisoners are with reference to rapists and murders, but apply consequences to everyone. You need to consider what portion of inmates are actually there for such crimes as opposed to those who are in for theft, drug use, and other less emotive things. My point is that prison produces worse criminals than they otherwise would be and this is backed up by numerous studies. To refute it, you need to do more than refer to a specific subset of criminals and say that they are already bad. If you wish to draw a distinction between different groups of prisoners, that is a different matter and you may find me in some agreement with you. The usefulness of prisons to my mind, is primarily in those cases where they protect others from someone that would almost certainly commit further crimes.
I would write more, but don't have the time.
Regards,
H.
Aide-toi, le Ciel t'aidera - Jeanne D'Arc.
Anyone who voluntarily lives in Detroit or Chicago deserves what they get for being stupid.
obviously no deficiencies vs. no obvious deficiencies
Why would you need to spend more money on health benefits for the poor if you have the National Health Service? Doesn't that provide universal health care regardless of income?
The corrupt democratic machine has ruled Chicagoland for years. Obama was part of it.
You obviously don't know what you're talking about. Obama was not part of what is known as "Chicago machine politics".
More importantly, the experience with England clearly shows that cameras don't do much to prevent crime
Even more importantly, most of the police cameras are at street corners generating traffic ticket revenue.
10 months of winter and 2 months of mosquitos.
There, fixed that for you. Yes, I have family who live in Alaska, and I have been up to visit them. I think I still have welts from over a year ago.
My blog. Good stuff (when I remember to update it). Read it.