More Surveillance Coming to New York City
New York City is stepping up their surveillance of downtown, including license plate readers and 3,000 public and private cameras. The bad news is that these devices are being sold to the public as a way to prevent terrorism, yet there’s very little evidence that they’re effective in such situations.
Who thinks that this type of big brother activity is really a good idea? Have Americans become such pansies that they’re afraid of their own shadows now? Thank God that terrorists are too stupid to have figured out how to copy, fake, or steal plates. I’m pretty happy they aren’t smart enough to use decoys in cars or rent cars that won’t be flagged as suspicious either. It’s even better that they don’t know how to take a train or bus into the city to wreck havoc.
New York City is also using the recent attacks in London as an example of how such systems work. Except they don’t. The ring of cameras around London did nothing to prevent the car bombers. If you can actually remember more than ten seconds ago, it was the ambulance drivers who noticed something was wrong. If two jackasses hadn’t gotten into a fight, a call to the ambulance would not have been necessary. No ambulance drivers means that the original plan could have very well worked. It was only after the incident occurred that British police tracked others through the CCTV cameras.
These same cameras were also supposed to be able to red flag illegal plates and stolen cars. Worked great didn’t it?
9/11 could never have been prevented with such security. However, the hijackers were quickly discovered without anyone invading my privacy. I’ve already had to suffer eliminations of my privacy, such as warrantless searches and wiretaps. Now, I’m assumed a criminal and my license plate will be logged into a database for no good reason.
The use of cameras and license plate readers will further affect how people act. If you know you’re being watched, you’re going to react differently. You might not join in that peace march for fear of repercussions from the government. You ‘ll stop discussing anything controversial in public. You will be forced to conform to what the government wants, merely to keep your sanity and to stay out of prison for a lack of siding with current policy.
While it is a nice idea to make policework a little bit easier for the police, taking shortcuts for work that should be performed live and in person is only going to be abused and misused. Again, this won’t make anyone safe. It’s just there to reassure the public that law enforcement might actually be doing something.
