NO END TO THE USES FOR HIDDEN CAMERAS

The Wichita Eagle ^ | March 4, 2003 | David Chartrand

[RAT Patrol]

Ping

[KansasCanadian]

What's this guy whining about--these cameras already exist on the KS turnpike and interstate highways.

[sauropod]

Agree wholeheartedly. We have more and more cameras perched on traffic lights.

Not a peep out of anyone...

[janetgreen]

Big brother is watching everyone except for the politicians who should be watched.

[wbill]

Shhhhh......

Somewhere, a politican is reading this and saying "You know, this guy makes a good point."

[RAT Patrol]

Yeah, but he makes a good point.

[jdege]

I have no problems with this, if the cameras provide sufficient evidence that the individual being charged has committed a violation, fine. (But a photo of a license plate, with the promise that the photo would only be taken when the car was in the red, and with the assumption that the owner is driving, isn't adequate.)

And, of course, we need protections in place to ensure that none of the operators of the system have motivations to cheat. The vendor must be paid on a fixed-cost basis, not paid a percentage of the fines. (Western civilization abandoned tax farming, long ago, and for good reason).

And personally, I'd like to make sure that the government entity responsible for setting the timers on the traffic lights had no financial interest in violations.

[RAT Patrol]

LOL

Like Janet said, "Big brother is watching everyone except for the politicians who should be watched. "

[LibWhacker]

If every bureaucrat in government had to wear a headband with a miniature camera in it, gov't waste (which is the greatest source of cheating known to man) might actually drop to zero.

[hoppity]

In California, the law states that in order for a Peace Officer to implement an arrest or citation, he or she must be present at the commission of a misdemeanor or an infraction, thus the reason for private person's arrests. Felonies are a different story.

So. . . what this means is that the intersection cameras are unlawful and the citations from them can be fought in court and won. The judges know and void the cite if that is the point argued.

It's just that so few people know this that they just accept the cite and pay the fine.

It is analogous to me telling a police officer that you ran a red light and he gives you a ticket based on my word. Unless the cameras have been deputized, of course. :-)

[RAT Patrol]

If every bureaucrat in government had to wear a headband with a miniature camera in it, gov't waste (which is the greatest source of cheating known to man) might actually drop to zero. Now there's some reality TV that might really take off. LOL

[dd5339]

I keep eyeballing the traffic camera in North Lawrence by TeePee junction and thinking about a nice quiet .22 rifle.

Please keep in mind this is all theoretical, (currently).

Hopefully I can keep my camera murdering desires in check for awhile longer, I just need to last long enough until my company packs my family and I up and sends us to the gun friendly state of Texas.

Semper Fi

[RAT Patrol]

ROTFL!

[singsong]

In case of accident a pic is very handy to determine who was at fault. I would say, take pics but use them only in legal proceedings or smthg like that.

[ErnBatavia]

for the politicians who should be watched

I'd always had a secret hope that there was one in the Secretary's loo in the Oval Office annex....and that it'd been activated when Bill Clinton was doing his tossoff into the sink.

[badlander]

So, if I stand out in my field, and flip off the satellite (which I have been known to do) is it more of a crime if a law enforcement officer is looking at the resulting photo? Should I only do this on cloudy nights, or can the infared cameras detect the warmth of my middle finger?

Does taking pictures of an exhibitionist contribute to the crime of exposure? If there were no big brother looking, the man might not have opened his trench coat. Is it a crime to expose yourself to an unmanned camera? After all, until someone looks at the photo you've only exposed yourself to an inanimate object.

Are they guilty of being peeping toms? Common sense has indeed died. I think George Orwell called it doublespeak, and the liberals are very good at it.

[Sharpshot613]

Thank you! My city just put those things in, and jacked up the red light fine. They also vary the yellow light time as you travel the same street, so unless you drive that section of road a lot you have no idea how much time you have before it turns yellow. Could be two seconds, could be four. Guess wrong and you have to pay the 281 bucks(or whatever it is). They also give the companies who installed them a portion of the proceeds, so I always thought that they were hedging the sensors a little bit so they could receive more money. It's so great to hear that not only can they be fought here in CA, but that they are violating the law besides.

[LibWhacker]

OMG, excuse me, I've been gone a LONG TIME . . . But isn't Kansas gun-friendly anymore? I grew up there and remember a time when you could buy a handgun in almost any hardware store in the state, and a kid could walk down Main Street with a rifle under his arm on his way to the quarry to do some plinking.

BTW, speaking of the good old days, I think I can remember when surplus M1s and other military rifles could be purchased mail-order from ads in comic books for $10-$15.

[Movemout]

I love it! They should be installed in legislators' offices so that we can see how their salaries are being earned. There would be a rush to off-site meetings by a significant percentage of Washington DC.