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Secret surveillance vehicle hits MI's streets, will help crack down on quality-of-life crimes
Staten Island Advance ^ | 28 Sep 2009 | Peter N. Spencer

Posted on 09/30/2009 8:19:44 AM PDT by BGHater

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- It could be a van with a plumber logo on it or a yellow livery cab. Or maybe it's a generic gray sedan, driven by a man who looks like an accountant.

The only way you will really know what the top-secret surveillance vehicle that recently hit the streets of the Mid-Island's 122nd Precinct looks like is if you get busted in some criminal act.

Similar to the one launched by the Island's MTA police two years ago, the $55,000 high-tech ride was funded by City Councilman James Oddo (R-Mid-Island/Brooklyn) to help combat quality-of-life crimes. The "vehicle" has helped nab dozens of graffiti vandals on and around the Staten Island Railroad.

Oddo had a warning for others:

"People should think long and hard before they do anything wrong, because we are watching."

Advance sources are mum on the exact make and model of the vehicle, but did say it is equipped with a periscope, digital cameras, recorders and some "neat computer stuff."


Councilman James Oddo


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Government; US: New York
KEYWORDS: newyork; statenisland; surveillance
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Note, edited title to fit into title header, correct title:

'Secret surveillance vehicle hits Mid-Island's streets, will help crack down on quality-of-life crimes'

'Oddo had a warning for others:

"People should think long and hard before they do anything wrong, because we are watching."'

1 posted on 09/30/2009 8:19:45 AM PDT by BGHater
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To: BGHater

Your editing was well-intetioned, but most of us will think this is about Michigan, one of the few places where you could almost justify this approach.


2 posted on 09/30/2009 8:21:10 AM PDT by Dr. Sivana (There is no salvation in politics.)
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To: BGHater

“People should think long and hard before they do anything wrong, because we are watching.”

“The voice of Totalitarianism”

Seems east coast governments have become fascists.


3 posted on 09/30/2009 8:22:20 AM PDT by edcoil (If I had 1 cent for every dollar the government saved, Bill Gates and I would be friends.)
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To: BGHater

What exactly is a “quality of life” crime?


4 posted on 09/30/2009 8:23:22 AM PDT by marstegreg
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To: edcoil
You have no right to privacy in public.
5 posted on 09/30/2009 8:24:33 AM PDT by stockpirate ("I came NOT to bring peace but a sword." - Jesus Christ)
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To: marstegreg
What exactly is a “quality of life” crime?

wearing white after Labor Day
wearing sox to bed before winter
voting anything but Dem
homeschooling
etc....

6 posted on 09/30/2009 8:26:05 AM PDT by This_far (Mandatory insurance! I thought it was about health care?)
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To: BGHater

Mid-Island must have the lowest crime rate in the nation, with no gang problems, drugs, etc etc if they have the time to assign officers to drive around randomly hoping to catch some ordinary citizen in the act of committing a minor offense.


7 posted on 09/30/2009 8:26:25 AM PDT by Little Pig (Vi Veri Veniversum Vivus Vici.)
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To: BGHater
"quality-of-life crimes"?, why not just call it vandalism?
8 posted on 09/30/2009 8:26:33 AM PDT by mnehring
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To: marstegreg

Traditionally, they’ve been crimes involving landscaping, garbage and property maintenance. More and more municipalities are cracking down on these due to the foreclosure crisis. I think they’re even going after the banks that took posession of foreclosed and abandoned homes.

Graffiti and vandalism ARE NOT “quality of life” crimes, but PROPERTY CRIMES.


9 posted on 09/30/2009 8:27:47 AM PDT by SJSAMPLE
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To: This_far

LOL


10 posted on 09/30/2009 8:29:22 AM PDT by Vendome (Don't take life so seriously... You'll never live through it.)
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To: SJSAMPLE

Why aren’t they targeting street crime? You can fix property, you can’t fix murder.


11 posted on 09/30/2009 8:29:43 AM PDT by marstegreg
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To: marstegreg
What exactly is a “quality of life” crime?

That's fascist speak made popular by Giuliani groupies. It's a catchall to justify the criminalization of anything they might not like, up to and including spitting on the sidewalk. "Vandalism" doesn't sound very threatening, but if it's a "quality of life" crime, that justifies shredding the Constitution. And it's wildly popular among the rubes, so politicians of both parties love it.

12 posted on 09/30/2009 8:33:19 AM PDT by Forgotten Amendments (I'd rather be Plaxico Burress than Sean Taylor)
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To: This_far

No, no, no, no: You commit a quality of life crime if your quality of life is too high for the democrat powers that be, who remedy this imbalance by taxing you down to size.


13 posted on 09/30/2009 8:34:20 AM PDT by Jagman (They comport, We deride!)
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To: Forgotten Amendments

I wish they provided statistics as to what kind of crime was actually stopped. This reeks of “Big Brother”.


14 posted on 09/30/2009 8:35:52 AM PDT by marstegreg
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To: BGHater

“People should think long and hard before they do anything wrong, because we are watching.”’

Police State?


15 posted on 09/30/2009 8:36:41 AM PDT by CodeToad (If it weren't for physics and law enforcement I'd be unstoppable!)
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To: marstegreg

Farting in an elevator.


16 posted on 09/30/2009 8:38:06 AM PDT by La.daddyrabbit (Born and bred in the briar patch. Liberalism is the sickness, the Democratic party is the asylum.)
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To: BGHater

Animals can be driven crazy by placing too many in too
small a pen.

Homo Sapiens is the only animal that voluntarily does
this to himself.

Robert Anson Heinlein


17 posted on 09/30/2009 8:38:20 AM PDT by HuntsvilleTxVeteran ((B.?) Hussein (Obama?Soetoro?Dunham?) Change America Will Die From.)
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To: Dr. Sivana

Your comment only applies if you don’t live in Michigan. Those of us who live here, disagree with you.


18 posted on 09/30/2009 8:39:42 AM PDT by exnavy (GOD save the republic)
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To: La.daddyrabbit

Now THAT’S a crime!!!


19 posted on 09/30/2009 8:40:38 AM PDT by marstegreg
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To: stockpirate

O, yes you do.


20 posted on 09/30/2009 8:40:52 AM PDT by edcoil (If I had 1 cent for every dollar the government saved, Bill Gates and I would be friends.)
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