“I’m not sure why police need access to private video streams, or why the public should grant them that access.”
They want to expand their coverage to make a facial and license plate recognition system more workable, I would bet.
To make the license/face recognition software work....you need pretty good cameras...not what the usual bakery or gas station puts up. I could see them doing this now and hoping in fifteen years that everyone gets the four-star cameras and this makes sense. Maybe this is a long-term seed program with no payoff for a decade or more.
Once a “voluntary” program is established, it’s not too long before it becomes mandatory. It’s basically like a “temporary” tax.