Well, big brother is at it again. According to this story in the Buffalo News, the city of Buffalo will be using their new security cameras along with foot patrol to “enhance public safety” at the ball drop.
Enhance public safety? Are you kidding me? What a crock.
The story goes on to say that last year’s festivities went off without a hitch. So … why the need for the omnipresent eyes of the six strategically located cameras?
So for those of you celebrating in downtown Buffalo, know that you’ll be ending 2008 and beginning 2009 under the watchful eye of your government.
I leave you with a quote from “V for Vendetta,” which I just watched this afternoon: “The people should not be afraid of their government. Government should be afraid of it’s people.”
One day we’ll return to that.
Cameras aren’t a deterrent because most people aren’t even aware of them. So how do they fight crime? What they need is a little monitor where a Max-Headroom-like cop-head can appear and say something like “Stop! Put yourself under arrest. Wait until the real Police arrive!”
But seriously, they don’t do a thing unless some crime occurs that is serious enough to justify the man-hours it takes to review the video later. Mostly, they are just a lot of money spent to make it look like they are doing something to reduce crime. They don’t stop crime, they just aid in prosecuting it later.