Posted on 06/18/2013 7:44:17 PM PDT by BenLurkin
BANNING {Californai} (CBSLA.com) —Authorities have installed a dozen surveillance cameras in Banning to watch its residents.
Banning Police Chief Leonard Purvis said the cameras are a way for officers to keep an eye on the city without having as many patrols on the ground.
“We definitely don’t want anybody to feel that we’re trying to be Big Brother, we just want to be able to provide an extra presence,” he said.
While the cameras aren’t manned 24 hours a day, seven days a week, the video is stored for 30 days.
“They’re not going to know when we’re watching and that’s what we want. We want them to be surprised, we don’t want them to know exactly when we’re watching, but we are,” said Purvis.
The police chief said the system is modeled after one in the Redlands, and he hopes the new method will be just as successful in Banning.
“You actually had the most serious crime that could occur, which is a homicide, captured on videotape. And that’s incredible for any investigator to be able to go back and look exactly at what happened,” said Purvis.
The police department also plans to add two speakers to the system in the park.
“The first time you get accosted in a park or one of your family members or one of your kids gets approached in a park, you’re going to be glad we have it on camera,” said technician Liza Kester.
The security cameras will be fully operational in a couple weeks.
Police plan to add an additional 100 cameras in the next few years
Because if you felt that way you would be guilty of thoughtcrime and have to be sent to Room 101 in the Ministry of Love.
Why don’t they start operating random urinalysis collection points using motorized port-a-johns? Have to do something about all that illegal drug use, you know.
Feel free to uninstall your new toy then...
We’ll watch the city on our smart Phones @ the Dunkin Donuts!
I bet these will be like the cop dashcams that just happen to malfunction when a granny gets tased and pepper sprayed for not getting out of her car fast enough.
This is why you have .22 cal air rifle, just the thing for eliminating vermin.
When they resort to banning police, only outlaws will be policed!
It didn't do the victim much good.
“They’re not going to know when we’re watching and that’s what we want.”
And the fuzz wont know when cameras get shot out.
The population is only 30,000.
Patrols are preventative. Departments can have hundreds of cameras, but persons have to watch them. No one watches them (except in places like NY...which have real-time computer ‘eye$$$$’). The murder will be recorded. The victim will be dead. But there will be evidence that ....may...help solve the case. The chief and lead investigators will get a pic on the front page if they make an arrest. But the victim is still dead.
Not a substitute for boots and brains and eyes on the street. And the stats will record the creeping failure of video law enforcement....and wonks in white shirts...with grant money to spend on useless hardware....will say
more cameras are needed.
Old school works. Cameras can’t intervene. Cameras can’t ‘smell’ a bad situation brewing. And a $25K dispatcher sleeping in front of 100 video feeds is almost worthless.....except to report malfunctions...which will cost more money to fix. Jeez...this is so stupid.
So that the victim and family can have a party and watch the replay over and over?
That's about all it's good for. Those cameras don't work well at night when
most crime occurs. But at least the Cops will be there to clean up the mess afterwards.
Show me a city with a remarkably low crime infection, and I’ll show you a place where cops are patrolling vigorously, deterring crime. The fellas have no bling on their badges....cuz they prevent the clusterf**ks for which news-worthy heroism or follow-up is necessary. The officers retire with unremarkable records...unnoticed. Nothing really ever happened while they were on duty!
And kudos to a chief who understands how those dynamics work. Not a lot of grant money available for that kind of rational approach, though.
Get it? :^)
There are all weather night video cameras. The best ones cost a good chunk of change.
I wonder if they’ll use the cameras to catch people defending themselves with firearms, so that they can arrest those shamelessly self-reliant people.
Yeah: the good guys are the easy catches....they’re the ones who won’t be wearing hoodies for disguise.
Show me a city with a remarkably low crime infection, and I'll show you a place where the crime rate has little to do with the size or vigor of the police force and everything to do with the demographics of the people who live there.
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