Can’t find your wallet? The Metropolitan Police Department and the Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency will soon know exactly where it is, even if you don’t. They’re in the beginning stages of a program to consolidate 5,200 District surveillance cameras into a single network. These cameras will infringe on the privacy of all D.C. residents.
The cameras, whose installation is backed by Mayor Adrian Fenty (D), will not be marked with signs. MPD’s existing cameras, which are meant to deter crime, are located at various high-crime points in the District and are clearly demarcated by signs saying that the area is under surveillance. Cameras from over half a dozen city agencies will make up the network. Not only will they not be marked, but they are meant not for crime reduction, but for observation.
“This isn’t a crime surveillance tool, this is strictly a monitoring function. It may not seem like there’s a difference there, but there is,” Darrell Darnell, the director of the D.C. Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency, told the Washington Times.
The difference between cameras that are intended to deter crime or play a role in criminal prosecutions, like the cameras on Georgetown’s campus, and cameras meant to monitor citizens is huge. Cameras that reduce crime are arguably represent a trade-off between privacy and safety. Cameras meant only for surveillance of law-abiding citizens, however, are indefensible.
Last year, MPD officers started monitoring camera footage in real time. Previously, the cameras would only be consulted if police had reason to believe that a crime had occurred within proximity of the camera.
The combination of monitoring rather than crime deterrence and real-time viewing represents a massive infringement on the privacy rights of Washington residents. Linking 5,200 cameras into a single surveillance network is an appalling proposition. Just call MPD your new Big Brother.
