McGruber writes:
"The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports that Atlanta Police plan to have as many as 12,000 cameras installed in the city.
'Atlanta is really on the leading edge of work in this area,' said William Flynn, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) deputy assistant secretary of infrastructure protection. 'We spend a lot of our attention on preparedness, protection, prevention. This kind of technology is the best use of those efforts and the best use of our resources.'
We've even been able to capture a murder on film,' said Atlanta Police Lt. LeAnne Browning, a supervisor at the video integration center where footage from more than 2,700 cameras is monitored.
I'm sure that was of great comfort to the murder victim and his/her loved ones."
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Non Sequor on Sunday March 02 2014, @04:21PM
I'm pretty sure it's for catching speeders. From a distance you can't tell they're police (you can typically *guess* based on placement though) so it's harder to avoid speeding tickets by slowing down before passing the speed trap.
I have no idea if this helps them write more tickets or not. I would guess that even without the hard to distinguish cars, they would have plenty of speeders going small amounts over the speed limit and they'd largely be restricted only in how many people they let slide. With the dark cars, I might guess that making their quota might not come at the expense of leniency since there should be more big speeders who fall for the speed trap. Or maybe it does let them write more tickets. I can't say.
Write your congressman. Tell him he sucks.
(Score: 2) by Angry Jesus on Sunday March 02 2014, @06:58PM
> I'm pretty sure it's for catching speeders.
I'm sure they have a justification for it. Probably multiple justifications. There is always a superficially plausible reason to ratchet up security forces. There will never be zero crime, so from the perspective of eliminating crime there is always "more we can do."
But that attitude forgets that police have a role in society that is not simply hard-line enforcement at all costs. That the use "soft power" (community participation) can be at least as effective as intimidation (be it black cars out of a special-forces movie or constant surveillance) without all of the social costs.