Is this going to be the official Chronicle position on surveillance cameras: that there are already lots of cameras around Houston, so what’s a few more?
Police Chief Harold Hurtt sparked debate with his recent proposal to install surveillance cameras downtown, at apartment complexes and even at some private homes to combat crime. But cameras already are rolling all over the city: at rail stations, schools, malls, highways, banks and convenience stores.
“In a big city, it’s increasingly hard to go throughout the day without being captured on many surveillance cameras,” Daniel Solove, a law professor at George Washington University who specializes in privacy issues, wrote via e-mail.
Indeed, the Metropolitan Transit Authority has a video camera on top of the Binz Building downtown to monitor Main Street — the same strip where the Houston Police Department hopes to install surveillance cameras.
Shoppers at the Galleria are monitored by camera both inside and outside the mall. Drivers on freeways managed by the Texas Department of Transportation are caught on tape. Commuters at Metro’s rail and transfer stations and inside trains, and also soon at Park & Ride lots, are watched on screen from miles away. And if you’re cheering at Toyota Center, you can bet you’ll be watched on video.
Schools, too, use camera technology to monitor students. A man who police say sexually assaulted a student in a Westbury High School restroom Feb. 9 was caught on one of the school’s 128 cameras as he entered the school, though authorities have not arrested a suspect. And officials at Westfield High School used images from a surveillance tape to identify students in a fight.
[snip]
Though some cameras, such as those on Houston’s freeways, aren’t intended for law enforcement purposes, police across the country, including Chicago, Los Angeles and Minneapolis, use surveillance technology to keep an eye on the public.
“They’ve been very effective for our needs,” said Metro police Capt. Tim Kelly. “We get that big picture of what’s happening on the sidewalks and the streets adjacent to the light rail system.”
And a nice view of Danger Train crashes.
The City Council’s Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security is scheduled to consider Hurtt’s proposal Tuesday.
We are still awaiting that outraged editorial.
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