Will Chicago's surveillance cameras come to Los Angeles?

Guess what: they already have. As detailed a year ago, L.A. City Councilman Eric Garcetti - consistently an idiot - together with then-mayor Jim Hahn welcomed Chicago mayor Richard M. Daley to the rollout for new security cameras which were placed on Hollywood Boulevard.

Chicago now has a proposed ordinance to require bars to install security cameras. Who exactly would monitor those cameras is uncertain, but I have no doubt that the government would eventually assume that role.

If Daley's advocacy for cameras on the street lead to Los Angeles installing them, have no doubt that our own leading lights - lead no doubt by Garcetti - will soon come out with a similar proposal.

Also, as pointed out in the other entries in this category, there's usually someone around to say something creepy, and here's the current version:

"The safer we make the city, the better it is for everyone," says Chicago Alderman Ray Suarez, who first proposed mandatory cameras in some businesses. "If you're not doing anything wrong, what do you have to worry about?"

Privacy · Sun, 02/19/2006 - 20:25 · · Importance: 1