Safety concerns trumped privacy issues as Tiburon's town council members voted unanimously Wednesday evening, to approve a proposal to install security surveillance cameras that would record the license plate numbers of drivers going in and out of town. The cameras could be installed in as soon as four months.
The controversial plan, which was floated over a year ago by Tiburon Police Chief Michael Cronin, garnered council approval despite some strongly voiced concerns from residents over loss of privacy and potential abuses.
Before the vote, several vocal residents urged them to reconsider.
"Those who would give up liberty for security, deserve neither," said Terry Graham loosely quoting Benjamin Franklin, "We are in Tiburon, it's a low crime area...and I urge you to go against this."
Dr. William Rothman of Belvedere was also adamantly against the cameras.
"I'm concerned that if this is adopted, that Tiburon will be portrayed and seen, as an elitist and racist community," said Dr. Rothman.
Whipping out a sign with a big eye on it that read "Tiburon, We See You" Rothman called it a "well-intentioned, ill-conceived and ill-fated plan."
That plan would work like this- as cars drive on the only two roads (Paradise Drive and Tiburon Blvd.) that access town, mounted cameras would record the license plate numbers which would be entered into a database. The crime-fighting tool could work in two ways-- the numbers could be compared in real time with those from stolen cars and from Amber Alerts. Or the database could also store the information so that if a crime were to occur in town, police could then later check the stored plate numbers in order to help track down potential suspects.
What if it was your child that got kidnapped, what if it was your house that got robbed, what if it was your mom that got murdered?" asked Carolyn Logan.
She might have been referring to recent Tiburon murder victim, Joan Rosenthal.
Rosenthal was killed outside her home (shown at left) in September, and that crime remains unsolved. Chief Cronin has stated that he believed that cameras may have helped solve that crime if they had been put in place and it's possible the murder might have helped solidify support for the cameras.
John Pearson of Belvedere told the council, that "most of the people I know in Belvedere are very much in favor of this."
In fact, Tiburon is relying on Belvedere, and the Marin County Sheriff's Department, to contribute funds for the purchase and installation of the camera system. According to Chief Cronin, the total cost of the system has been projected to fall somewhere between $137,000 and $196,000, plus $15,000 annually for maintenance and replacement costs. There are also details to be ironed out with PGE for power and Caltrans for encroachment issues before installation occurs.
Several council members questioned Chief Cronin about how long the
data would be stored (30 days and then purged) and how one could go
about accessing the data (by the police and only with subpoena, court
order or search warrant). Chief Cronin repeated assurances that the
cameras would only record license plates, and not individuals or faces.
Sausalito Mayor Alice Fredericks also pointed out that if a car were parked in a resident's own driveway, that police or any law enforcement would be within their right to take a photo of that license plate and 'run a make' on that car.
"...This database...it's a list of numbers--it identifies no one," said Fredericks, "It really does not identify people...it identifies cars belonging to felons."
Even though each council member individually acknowledged the privacy concerns, safety and security ruled in the end.
"In 2008 we had one burglary per 435 people," said Mayor Fredericks, "Burglaries are when people come into your house at night and you have a good chance of being there...Really for me it's a powerful argument for approving these cameras."
"Think of the children!" Idiots.
Posted by: la | Thursday, November 19, 2009 at 08:18 AM