Big Brother, Big Schmother, Say Bushwickers
A new NYPD program which aims to install over 500 surveillance cameras in over 250 locations around the city in the next year kicked off with little fanfare in Bushwick last week. The cameras were positioned at three consecutive intersections on Knickerbocker Avenue. While the New York Civil Liberties Union is raising objections, it sounds…
A new NYPD program which aims to install over 500 surveillance cameras in over 250 locations around the city in the next year kicked off with little fanfare in Bushwick last week. The cameras were positioned at three consecutive intersections on Knickerbocker Avenue. While the New York Civil Liberties Union is raising objections, it sounds like residents of Bushwick are willing to trade a sliver of their freedom for a big uptick in safety. “This is like having 24-hour police protection, and we need it,” said Alan Vera, a 27-year-old dispatcher at Bushwick Car Service on Knickerbocker Avenue. “The cameras are great because you never know when there’ s gonna to be a shootout over here,” said De los Santos. We’d be willing to make the same trade on Putnam and Grand.
Here’s Looking at You [NY Post]
NYPD to Add 500 Cameras [Boston Globe]
Where’s Dirty Harry and Charles Bronson when you need them?!?!
There are more cops on foot patrol from Grand to Classon on Putnam. But the area won’t change until the junkyard removed and the vacant homes re-occupied. I caught one couple wandering into new construction on Classon for a quickie (I recognized woman from her strolls).
My cynical side says this is all about PR, nothing more. But, it can’t hurt I guess…
i watched this go up a few weeks ago and wondered if it would do anything at all. was there a lot of crime going on right there (corner of starr & knickerbocker)? I walk by literally 2 a day and it just seems to be a hangout for bums. Some of the bums have seemd to shuffle off now maybe as a result of this. I don’t know.
My question is why the police don’t do something about the petty drug dealing. I get so disgusted watching deals go down in plain daylight at cars down my block. If everyone on my block knows about this the police have gotta know, right?
24/7 police presence on every corner? Wake up buddy……
if we want a 24 police presence, then that’s what we should demand. Not cameras which provide little deterrence to against crime and certainly no protection in the middle of it. this is the lazy, easy way out of avoiding a real problem.
I hope that the video quality is good. Often, the images are grainy and barely discernible. Then again, these cameras are probably hi-tech. Hopefully it will help make the area safer.
Anon 10:28, it’s called deterrence. It won’t stop 100% of the crime because some criminals are too stupid to know any boundaries, e.g., bank, gas station, convenience store robbers, etc. But it will do a lot to deter those criminals who do not want to go up against video evidence. Moreover, it will certainly provide law enforcement with another tool to combat crime and hopefully achieve higher conviction and incarceration rates. To me, that’s very good thing. It might not save me or anyone else from getting shot but it might help to get the perp off the street and thereby save someone else from a similar fate. How is that a bad thing?
I wonder how much those cameras cost? The police know whats going on in that area and continue to ignore the petty drug dealers.