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Editorial
Big Brother is on the job
Friday, November 1, 2013
It took almost 30 years beyond 1984, but Big Brother is on the job.
Revelations about NSA spying on U.S. citizens and foreign leaders, drone attacks and the Obamacare debacle haven't done much to cultivate trust in our government.
And it's not just in Washington.
The owner of Duffy's Tavern in Lincoln isn't happy with Big Brother keeping an eye on his establishment, in the form of a couple of new security cameras, purchased for about $5,100, focused on 14th and O and monitored by the Lincoln Police Department.
There's good reason to have the cameras; 110 assaults reported in that area in 2012 and 103 so far this year.
Duffy's owner Scott Hatfield thinks the cameras are bad PR: "I'm concerned about the idea that people can't come downtown to 14th and O and not be left alone by Big Brother," he said at a meeting of the mayor's Citizen Police Advisory Board.
As reported by the Lincoln Journal, board member S.A. Mora James suggested the cameras might be more useful in residential areas with high crime rates.
"If I want to go down to 14th and O, that is my business. And unless I call you, I don't need you to be there," she said.
Police Chief Jim Pechong said he was disappointed the Duffy's owner didn't want "to make sure people that are down there are not victims of a crime."
The advisory board didn't make a recommendation, and instead forwarded the meeting minutes to the mayor.
Surveillance cameras aren't confined to big cities, of course. Truth be told, any time we're out in public, let alone in a large store, we're probably in range of someone's security camera. Millions of them have been purchased and installed in the years since 9/11, and the Boston Marathon bombing illustrated just how ubiquitous, and helpful to investigators, security cameras are.
The issue came up locally in discussion about a skate park, with the suggestion that the city consider installation of security cameras if and when one is built.
It's tempting to install more video cameras in hotspots, a few at busy intersections around McCook could help with accident investigations as well as crime.
People with nothing to hide have nothing to fear from being watched, or so the argument goes.
But the simple fact that someone is quietly gathering information about our personal activities is a reasonable cause for concern.