Video surveillance

==Background ==
==Insights==
===Philly voters to weigh in on public video surveillance in May, 2006===
:Source: Patrick Walters Of The Associated Press from May, 2006
As police warn of a rising tide of gun violence, voters this week will get a chance to weigh in on whether Philadelphia should become the next big city to add public surveillance cameras to its crime-fighting arsenal.
A referendum on the ballot in Tuesday's primary will ask voters whether they think the city's charter should be amended to allow officials to use video surveillance to fight crime and violence in a way that protects civil liberties and legitimate privacy interests.
Proponents point out that surveillance video has aided several high-profile investigations, including the arrest of a man who fatally shot a hospital technician in Center City last year. But detractors say the ballot question is too open-ended and that the cameras themselves pose too many civil liberties concerns.
City Councilman Darrell Clarke, who sponsored the proposal for the referendum, said he wanted to take the issue to the voters first.
While officials are not looking for specific numbers in terms of ballot support, Clarke said, they want to be able to gauge public opinion as much as possible.
If this thing comes back 98 percent to 2 percent that we don't want them, then we won't do it, he said.
Clarke said he knows that the privacy issue is a big concern, but he wanted to see what sort of support there was for the idea before fleshing out the details.
The city would have to establish standards about where the cameras would go, who would monitor them and how long recordings would be kept, Clarke said. Money is also a factor, as the cameras can cost up to $20,000 apiece.
==Links==
* Privacy