City : Eye on you: Syracuse police to spend more than $155,000 for security cameras
The Syracuse Police Department will spend more than $155,000 in grants to expand its collection of surveillance cameras across the city. The Syracuse Common Council approved the funding Oct. 24. Surveillance cameras became a controversial topic last year when Syracuse police requested approval to use an $84,400 grant to purchase five security cameras. With more cameras on the way, The Daily Orange takes a look at two different views: one for and one against the cameras.
AGAINST: Jean Kessner, councilor-at-large of the Syracuse Common Council
Kessner was the only councilor to vote against spending another $155,000 on surveillance cameras. Her reason?
It’s unclear on when — or if — police will stop installing cameras, she said.
‘You don’t lose your freedom all at once,’ she said. ‘You lose it bit by bit.’
What price residents are willing to pay for freedom is worth public debate, she said. At the same time, she said she applauded the crime reduction in areas where cameras already exist.
‘If a community wants these cameras I would never stand in their way,’ Kessner said. ‘There’s nothing worse than feeling afraid, uncomfortable.’
But police need a well-thought-out plan to install the cameras, including details on how long the cameras stay up and who can access the recordings, she said. Kessner argued that police should apply for grants that add officers to the streets instead.
‘This seems to be a culture of fear instead of a culture of enabling ourselves to be strong,’ she said.
FOR: Harry Lewis, treasurer of the Southeast University Neighborhood Association
Lewis’ neighborhood association covers the East neighborhood, where many Syracuse University students live. Cameras are a ‘fabulous idea,’ Lewis said, but police need to add them in the right neighborhoods.
Because the East neighborhood remains one of the safest parts of the city, adding cameras there would be a waste of money, he said.
‘A camera on a mugging on Euclid Avenue won’t do a damn thing,’ he said.
But in areas with higher crime, Lewis said, the cameras could take the role of parents by making kids stay out of trouble.
Lewis acknowledged that adding cameras to one part of the city could just shift crime to another part. That’s why he believes cameras will eventually go up in many neighborhoods around Syracuse.
‘We’re never rid of the problem,’ he said.
Published on November 1, 2011 at 12:00 pm
