To the Editor,
How much privacy are Warwick residents willing to forego in order to
gain some additional safety from police surveillance cameras? Is the
tradeoff a worthwhile …
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To the Editor,
How much privacy are Warwick residents willing to forego in order to
gain some additional safety from police surveillance cameras? Is the
tradeoff a worthwhile transaction? At what point might government
monitoring of residents' activities increase to the oppressive state
envisioned in George Orwell's dystopian tale, "1984"?
These are questions Warwick residents should be asking as the city
council considers approving Warwick Police Chief Brad Connor's request to
install ten surveillance cameras at various key locations around Warwick.
Police says the proposed cameras aren't for "surveillance" since they
won't be monitored by police in real-time; instead they just record
activities that can be reviewed later as needed. Does that matter?
Whether police watch our activity as it occurs or a day later, it's still
surveillance of our citizens-99.999% of whom are doing nothing wrong.
Warwick's mayor, Frank Picozzi, says we have nothing to worry about if
we're doing nothing wrong. The worry isn't about being caught doing
something wrong. It's the justified worry that our every movement is being
captured by government; that what little privacy we have left is being
stripped from us.
As a former police officer, I understand the need for safety and
security. However, there is a tipping point at which gaining a tiny bit of
security at the expense of giving up a great deal of privacy just isn't
worth it. With surveillance cameras proliferating throughout our country,
we are approaching the "government is always watching" level found in
totalitarian countries.
Ben Franklin's quote, though not meant in exactly the same context as
most writers use it, is still appropriate here: "Those who would give up
essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither
Liberty nor Safety."
Lonnie Barham
Warwick
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