NO END TO THE USES FOR HIDDEN CAMERAS

The Wichita Eagle ^ | March 4, 2003 | David Chartrand

[RAT Patrol]

Posted on Tue, Mar. 04, 2003

DAVID CHARTRAND: NO END TO THE USES FOR HIDDEN CAMERAS

As the saying has it, "If it is good to secretly videotape the goose, then it's also good to videotape the gander." Not my saying, of course, but it brings to mind a current debate in the Kansas Legislature about letting cities install hidden cameras at intersections to catch drivers who speed or run red lights.

If it's a good idea to catch cheaters, then why stop at traffic lights? I see an opportunity here for Kansans to make a statement that we will not tolerate dishonesty in any form. I see an opportunity to install hidden cameras everywhere cheaters can be found:

In the private offices of legislators and state-government officials who sincerely believe that there is nothing wrong with using their cell phones, computers and office stationery for personal business.

In the homes of Kansas families with teenage children, so police can spy on moronic parents who host beer-drinking parties for high school students.

In the private meeting chambers where city councils, school boards and state agencies hold "executive sessions" that are closed to the public and media. How can we tell if our elected officials are cheating if we can't even see them?

Along grocery-store aisles, to catch red-handed the rascals who eat food directly off the salad bar or stand in the express lane with more than 12 items in their carts.

In bookstore coffee shops, which are a haven for scofflaws who read books and newspapers without paying for them and then walk away, leaving the pages covered with coffee stains and biscotti crumbs.

In accountants' offices, where cameras would document each taxpayer's response when asked, "Do you have written logs to document that all of these telephone and automobile deductions were business-related?"

As you can see, those who want cameras at traffic lights may have opened a Pandora's box and pulled out a can of worms. Do you know how many remote-controlled video cameras we will need to catch all the Kansans who break rules in their cars, offices and homes? Neither do I. Then we'd need a huge, wasteful bureaucracy to examine all these tapes and track down the cheaters. It would be called the Department of Dishonesty, which I think is a great name for a government agency.

I suppose some will ask: What about the government agencies that do the videotaping? What if they cheat? Who's going to videotape them?

These are good questions, but we have to draw the line somewhere.

After all, if you can't trust a snooping, eavesdropping, videotaping, big-brother government, who can you trust?

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David Chartrand is syndicated columnist based in Olathe. Reach him at dvc@davidchartrand.com.

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© 2003 The Wichita Eagle and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved. http://www.kansas.com

[RAT Patrol]

Ping

[KansasCanadian]

What's this guy whining about--these cameras already exist on the KS turnpike and interstate highways.

[sauropod]

Agree wholeheartedly. We have more and more cameras perched on traffic lights.

Not a peep out of anyone...

[janetgreen]

Big brother is watching everyone except for the politicians who should be watched.

[wbill]

Shhhhh......

Somewhere, a politican is reading this and saying "You know, this guy makes a good point."

[RAT Patrol]

Yeah, but he makes a good point.

[jdege]

I have no problems with this, if the cameras provide sufficient evidence that the individual being charged has committed a violation, fine. (But a photo of a license plate, with the promise that the photo would only be taken when the car was in the red, and with the assumption that the owner is driving, isn't adequate.)

And, of course, we need protections in place to ensure that none of the operators of the system have motivations to cheat. The vendor must be paid on a fixed-cost basis, not paid a percentage of the fines. (Western civilization abandoned tax farming, long ago, and for good reason).

And personally, I'd like to make sure that the government entity responsible for setting the timers on the traffic lights had no financial interest in violations.

[RAT Patrol]

LOL

Like Janet said, "Big brother is watching everyone except for the politicians who should be watched. "

[LibWhacker]

If every bureaucrat in government had to wear a headband with a miniature camera in it, gov't waste (which is the greatest source of cheating known to man) might actually drop to zero.

[hoppity]

In California, the law states that in order for a Peace Officer to implement an arrest or citation, he or she must be present at the commission of a misdemeanor or an infraction, thus the reason for private person's arrests. Felonies are a different story.

So. . . what this means is that the intersection cameras are unlawful and the citations from them can be fought in court and won. The judges know and void the cite if that is the point argued.

It's just that so few people know this that they just accept the cite and pay the fine.

It is analogous to me telling a police officer that you ran a red light and he gives you a ticket based on my word. Unless the cameras have been deputized, of course. :-)

[RAT Patrol]

If every bureaucrat in government had to wear a headband with a miniature camera in it, gov't waste (which is the greatest source of cheating known to man) might actually drop to zero. Now there's some reality TV that might really take off. LOL

[dd5339]

I keep eyeballing the traffic camera in North Lawrence by TeePee junction and thinking about a nice quiet .22 rifle.

Please keep in mind this is all theoretical, (currently).

Hopefully I can keep my camera murdering desires in check for awhile longer, I just need to last long enough until my company packs my family and I up and sends us to the gun friendly state of Texas.

Semper Fi

[RAT Patrol]

ROTFL!

[singsong]

In case of accident a pic is very handy to determine who was at fault. I would say, take pics but use them only in legal proceedings or smthg like that.

[ErnBatavia]

for the politicians who should be watched

I'd always had a secret hope that there was one in the Secretary's loo in the Oval Office annex....and that it'd been activated when Bill Clinton was doing his tossoff into the sink.

[badlander]

So, if I stand out in my field, and flip off the satellite (which I have been known to do) is it more of a crime if a law enforcement officer is looking at the resulting photo? Should I only do this on cloudy nights, or can the infared cameras detect the warmth of my middle finger?

Does taking pictures of an exhibitionist contribute to the crime of exposure? If there were no big brother looking, the man might not have opened his trench coat. Is it a crime to expose yourself to an unmanned camera? After all, until someone looks at the photo you've only exposed yourself to an inanimate object.

Are they guilty of being peeping toms? Common sense has indeed died. I think George Orwell called it doublespeak, and the liberals are very good at it.

[Sharpshot613]

Thank you! My city just put those things in, and jacked up the red light fine. They also vary the yellow light time as you travel the same street, so unless you drive that section of road a lot you have no idea how much time you have before it turns yellow. Could be two seconds, could be four. Guess wrong and you have to pay the 281 bucks(or whatever it is). They also give the companies who installed them a portion of the proceeds, so I always thought that they were hedging the sensors a little bit so they could receive more money. It's so great to hear that not only can they be fought here in CA, but that they are violating the law besides.

[LibWhacker]

OMG, excuse me, I've been gone a LONG TIME . . . But isn't Kansas gun-friendly anymore? I grew up there and remember a time when you could buy a handgun in almost any hardware store in the state, and a kid could walk down Main Street with a rifle under his arm on his way to the quarry to do some plinking.

BTW, speaking of the good old days, I think I can remember when surplus M1s and other military rifles could be purchased mail-order from ads in comic books for $10-$15.

[Movemout]

I love it! They should be installed in legislators' offices so that we can see how their salaries are being earned. There would be a rush to off-site meetings by a significant percentage of Washington DC.