> Date: Sun, 13 Jun 1999 03:36:47 -0500
> Subject: [fla-left] [civil liberties] Cop spy cameras
>
> ``If we keep going
> this way, we might have a camera perched above every street corner.''
> --Brian Becker
>
> ``We've had inquiries from other cities about
> doing this.''
> --Tampa Police Capt. John E. Garcia
>
>
> Police spy cameras have look of success
> By DAVID PEDREIRA of The Tampa Tribune
> 6/13/99
>
>
> TAMPA - Police may expand a controversial closed-circuit camera
> system that watches residents. One man is fighting back
> with a petition.
>
> As the yuppies, deadheads and baby boomers flock to Ybor City's
> main strip on a steamy summer's evening, they are being watched.
>
> When the King of Gasparilla makes his triumphant return to
> Seventh Avenue, he is caught on tape.
>
> Visiting an Ybor coffee bar for a night of existential musings?
> They see you.
>
> Every Friday and Saturday evening, a phalanx of police
> surveillance cameras stare down on Tampa's hottest entertainment strip,
> watching for trouble with unblinking, mechanical eyes.
>
> ``I see it almost like being in a helicopter,'' said Officer John
> Simmons,
> who scans a bank of television monitors wired to the cameras. ``I can see
> problems before they even get started.''
>
> Some say it's downright Orwellian, but Tampa Police Department
> officials argue the surveillance system has added a powerful enforcement
> tool for officers in Ybor.
>
> Police brass are so enamored with the program's first 18 months of
> duty, they may expand it. Discussions are under way to perch cameras
> along the route of the city's $23 million electric trolley, which will
> link downtown
> tourist attractions with Ybor City.
>
> And developers of the Centro Ybor project have offered to house
> a new police monitoring station - if the department agrees to
> keep an eye on cameras placed at the $40 million entertainment complex.
>
> ``I think this program has been a great success,'' said police
> Capt. John E. Garcia. ``We've had inquiries from other cities about
> doing this.''
>
> The camera system, which cost $180,000 to install and
> about $15,000 each year to maintain, has not escaped technical
> difficulties.
>
> Four of the 12 cameras that line Seventh Avenue from 15th to 21st
> streets have been damaged by lightning strikes, said Cpl. Mike Morrow,
> who runs Ybor's mounted patrol and oversees the closed-circuit system.
>
> Two cameras are completely blinded, and another pair can't swivel to
> cover all parts of the street. The police have put out a bid to have the
> equipment fixed, Garcia said.
>
> Glitches aren't the only problem.
>
> The mere idea of police cameras observing a public street has
> created a stir among some residents who don't like the idea of
> government having eyes in the sky.
>
> ``What's next?'' asked Brian Becker, a Tampa resident circulating
> a petition to have the cameras shut down. ``If we keep going
> this way, we might have a camera perched above every street corner.''
>
> Police say the system is more about public protection than
> government intrusion.
>
> Simmons and other officers in his squad split the duty of
> manning the cameras every Friday and Saturday evening.
>
> Sitting in front of an array of monitors in a nearby Tampa fire
> station, the officers continually run tape as throngs of people melt
> into Ybor's main drag.
>
> A joystick allows them to zoom, focus and turn the cameras
> in all directions. If people look as if they're about to cause trouble, the
> officer monitoring the screen can dispatch patrol officers. If someone
> steals a purse, the cameras can track the thief for six blocks.
>
> Perhaps most important, the unblinking eyes are like guardian
> angels for street patrols, Simmons said. If police get involved in a
> scuffle and are unable to call for help, Simmons can issue orders
> from his station.
>
> ``I can tell the officers on the ground what to be aware of when
> they arrive at the scene,'' Simmons said. ``I don't see it as an
> invasion. I see it more as protection.''
>
> The cameras have aided in dozens of arrests since
> being installed in fall 1997, Morrow said.
>
> Detectives have reviewed surveillance tapes to gather
> information for a rape case and other criminal investigations, he said.
>
> With signs along Seventh Avenue warning people they are
> being watched, the system also has a calming effect on the crowd.
>
> ``You see people looking at it, and every once in awhile
> we'll move the cameras up and down to nod at them,'' Morrow said.
> ``It just keeps honest people honest.''
>
> Police this month will give the Tampa City Council an
> update on the system's first 1 1/2 years of duty.
>
> Until then, the cameras will slowly pivot on their metallic
> necks, keeping an eye on people.
>
> ``I don't care if I'm on camera because I don't have anything
> to hide,'' said Kathleen Bambery, general manager of the Green
> Iguana on Seventh Avenue. ``If it makes the clientele feel safer
> coming to Ybor City, then it's probably a good thing.''
>
> David Pedreira covers government and can be reached at (813)
> 259-7679 or dpedreira at tampatrib.com