Posted on 12/24/2007 5:08:48 AM PST by Brilliant
The public-housing project of Jardines de Monte Hatillo is a violent place run by drug gangs in the San Juan metropolitan area, where children learn before they can walk to drop to the floor when they hear gunfire.
Tired of the endless violence, the Puerto Rico Police Department and the Puerto Rico Housing Department are fighting crime with infrared-equipped video cameras...
Several Puerto Rican cities already have arrived where many Florida cities are heading: placing cameras in public places to deter criminal activity. Hallandale Beach, in South Florida, plans to install 120 cameras in seven public parks. The city of Sanibel approved 22 surveillance cameras at its Lighthouse Beach.
In Florida, unlike Puerto Rico, surveillance cameras in public places are still controversial...
Yet, in violence-ridden Puerto Rico, electronic surveillance is widely accepted as an effective crime-fighting tool...
"Cameras add a layer of safety to any place and are a deterrent element," said Pedro Toledo, Puerto Rico Police Department superintendent. "So what if you catch someone having a bad hair day when lives can be saved?"...
Residents, still too afraid of the gangs to give their full names, say the cameras have forced the gangs to re-think their criminal activities...
"We have been able to spot situations and stop them before they develop into something serious," said inspector Guillermo Calixto...
Although Puerto Rico's constitution guarantees a right to privacy in two sections, there has been no widespread concern among residents about the proliferation of surveillance cameras -- despite a long history on the island of political spying and persecution...
But the ACLU has found little support in a society convinced the benefits of having Big Brother watching outweigh the potential harm...
In 10 years, Caguas went from 4,600 violent crimes annually to less than 2,000 last year...
(Excerpt) Read more at orlandosentinel.com ...
“in violence-ridden Puerto Rico”
Let me qualify this statement. Puerto Rico is not “violence-ridden”. Murders are almost exclusively limited to drug dealers killing other drug dealers, and we can live with that.
Who comes up with these dumb ideas? DC has had "crime cameras" for years and they have yet to stop a single criminal.
English is becoming a second language among english language news editors......
I nominate that for "The Most Stupid Statement" of year.....
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