Miami's Budget Advisory Committee recently voted in favor of placing surveillance cameras in the entertainment district in an effort to deter crime, encouraging elected officials to implement the idea. The claim is that the cameras would reduce police personnel costs through crime determent. This decision comes on the heels of the approval of a $225,000 security system, including 16 cameras, in the under-construction Lincoln Park. Likewise, a city contractor began installing cameras at intersections throughout Miami Beach at the beginning of the year that should eventually reach up to 30 total cameras. And although they are put in place to catch traffic violations, they stream continuous video.
Officials should reach a decision Thursday concerning whether to move forward with the increased surveillance. However, these same officials are also in disagreement about the move.
Police Chief Carlos Noriega claims "cameras make people feel safe."
While Mayor Hatti Herrera Bower calls the use of surveillance in public places "an invasion of privacy."
"I don't know that in a tourist area people would love to have cameras watching what they do,'' she said.
So the question I'd like to pose to Miami residents is whether the increased use of surveillance cameras is considered a positive or negative thing. Do you think they will deter crime and make the streets safer for us all? Or are they another instance of a Big Brother mentality that threatens to invade our privacy?
Further, will the implementation of cameras in our entertainment areas damage the tourist industry?
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/06/30/1708580/surveillance-cameras-proposed.html#ixzz0sMXpkoZi