Why not just put surveillance cameras everywhere?

Rob Breakenridge
Calgary Herald
Tuesday, July 22, 2008

The path to nanny-statehood may be best described as a slippery slope, but in Calgary the analogy seems somehow inappropriate.

A slippery slope conveys a sense of being trapped; being unable to disembark from a journey you have inadvertently set upon.

However, given the gleeful embrace of the nanny-state by Calgary city council, that slippery slope seems more like a waterslide. So long as council is so eager to take the plunge, why not go all in?

Last March, council approved a pilot project of two dozen surveillance cameras to monitor crime in the downtown. Never mind their intrusive nature, or that they seem to have little impact on crime rates, why not make the most of the opportunity? Ald. Ric McIver suggested the cameras might help with “social behaviour issues,” which seems to encompass a lot these days.

(ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW)

For example, the problem of littering — it’s apparently a very serious problem, given how council has decided to deal with it. City council is looking at some much stiffer fines for littering — up to $1,000 for tossing a cigarette butt.

Ald. Druh Farrell even suggested that those who litter should be “thrown in the clink.”

Well, here’s one social behaviour issue that these cameras could help out with. Why not use the eye of Big Brother to keep watch for cigarette flickers and coffee cup tossers? Once we’ve crossed the threshold of monitoring the citizenry, does it really matter anymore what we’re monitoring for?

Furthermore, what possible argument could the busybodies on city council mount against such a move? They’re the ones who have decided that simply being elected is tantamount to a mandate to be as intrusive as possible in the lives of Calgarians; I would be most interested to hear them make their case against such intrusion.

Somehow, though, as facetious as I’m being, I suspect some aldermen might not have too many quarrels with such an approach. After all, city bylaw officials may need the assistance, given how busy they’re likely to be.

Flying in the face of science and common sense, council last week decided to press ahead with a pesticide ban, although the confusing debate was somewhat of a farce. In the end, though, council has decided that a pesticide ban will be brought forward in the fall of 2009.

How many bylaw officers will be needed to enforce this ban?

What sort of intrusive measures might we come up with to keep an eye on the lawns and garages of Calgary homeowners?

After all, there may be some rafters on the Elbow River drinking beer or not wearing life-jackets, and we wouldn’t want to pull any bylaw officers off that beat.

To say nothing of drive-thrus. Ald. Brian Pincott and the aforementioned Ald. Farrell are pushing for a ban on any new drive-thru being built. Perhaps some surveillance could come in handy in helping to make sure that anyone buying a hamburger or withdrawing $20 from a bank machine is parking and exiting his or her vehicle beforehand.

FULL STORY CLICK HERE

• 
• Social bookmarks
• 
• Email this article
• 
• Print this page

Comment Terms Of Use

8 Responses to “Why not just put surveillance cameras everywhere?”

1. me Says:
   July 22nd, 2008 at 12:22 pm

   calgary is where our oil-politicians come from, thats why harper is running my country into ground. theres a lot of university of calgary alumni and current political science teachers who travel to the grove yearly. too bad they infected our government too.

2. Astrid Says:
   July 22nd, 2008 at 1:18 pm

   Slippery slope, for sure.. Tyranny announcement is that Calgary has been on tap for about ten years since Ralph Klein gave the reigns over to his next puppets in line…. with his manufactured consent plebiscite in l989. His parting gift of fluoridation is still dumbing down Calgarians… The recent tabling of requests for pesticide bylaws to protect kids and people with health challenges, shows how much power the Medical Mafia has in cowtown… and why people are too stupid to toss out the current aldermen who are really alderGODS… Our Mayor and the women on council, all NWO puppets…. Druh and all of them should be in the clink for putting hydrofluosilicic acid toxic waste into our public drinking water..

   Lets put the surveillance into the offices of our alderreps who have sold us off to the corporate companies!

   Evil…. you bet… are any Calgarians willing to challenge this den of thieves?

3. Dylan Stalker Says:
   July 22nd, 2008 at 5:15 pm

   Is there any way I can find out who these people are and proof they go to the grove?

4. Craig Says:
   July 22nd, 2008 at 8:59 pm

   How sad, coming to Calgary. If you live in Calgary, voice your opinion about this nonsense to the people around you and too the bastards themselves if you so wish.

5. obvious Says:
   July 23rd, 2008 at 7:09 am

   simonsays:
   i once heard of a group of ‘talkers’ who got pissed and threw a rope around cctv cameras and with a group effort and their angry faces covered pulled the cameras down. [our hearts are strong but our efforts are weak]

   p.s.
   eye in the sky cameras break easy too, i heard on the street

6. Peak Oil is Real Says:
   July 23rd, 2008 at 9:02 am

   Calgary and Alberta boasts the most complacent, pliable, indifferent sheep in the Western Hemisphere. We have the worst voting participation statistics in the country’s history. Of course I’m going to challenge it. You would be amazed at how fast our City hall caves in when an articulate, determined dissenter challenges their mistakes.

7. bawuismad Says:
   July 23rd, 2008 at 10:38 am

   Hey guys I live in Tempe Arizona south of Scottsdale Arizona, which happens to be the surveillance capital of the state. Scottsdale has become notorious for their revenue generating ROBO Narcs. It gets even better now that the city officials are demanding more cameras stationary and (like I always feared remotely adjustable. Of course the ticketing of a person by machine instead of forcing police off their lazy asses has only been implemented in Scottsdale. That is to say there are camera’s every where in the Phoenix area but cops outside of Scottsdale still have to revert to the old van-camera system. There is so much revenue generated from these things that it makes me wonder where its being squandered. It probably goes to fund the accounting department, which is so bogged down because of the constant stream of revenue from property tax, sales tax, excises taxes and that special tax on food. Scottsdale alone has 483,189,000 dollars in revenue that it is not using and does not need more.

8. Pete from Missouri Says:
   July 23rd, 2008 at 1:37 pm

   The solution is to have a Boston Tea Party day for busting surveilance cams and lopping the heads off of parking meters.

   Pete