Candid Camera - Who Cares

I don't understand the big furor about the surveillance cameras now being used in high crime areas in Chicago. There have been cameras on us for many years now and people are only starting to grouse because the cameras are in public areas and run by the government.

First of all, there is not and should not be any expectation of privacy in a public area. If you're in public, you're not in private, and vice versa. If you want to be in private, get a limo with tinted windows or, better yet, pull a Howard Hughes and stay in your room.

Second, the Constitution guarantees you a right to privacy, not anonymity. That means you have a right to keep whatever things you choose to in private. When you bring them out in public, they're no longer in private, since you chose to bring them out. Ask someone who is openly homosexual about the significance of the word "out" some time. They'll probably tell you that, if you are proud of who you are, you live your life openly. Though I don't condone their lifestyle, I applaud their courage and honesty. Everyone is encouraged to live their lives openly in our society today, with the three exceptions of criminals, celebrities and Christians.

Third, we have been on camera for decades now. There is at least one camera in every store you visit. That means you have been on camera at the grocer, the gas station, the camera store (ironically), discount outlets, restaurants and many other places. There are cameras at the airport, the bus station and in all of our government buildings. And now that cities are using cameras to help deter or solve crimes it's some great violation of our civil rights? Wake up! You had no problem with private businesses having your image for over thirty years but you now have a problem with law enforcement having it? What have you got to hide?

Personally, I think it is an enormous attack of egotism to believe that the addition of several cameras in downtown Chicago will suddenly have you in the crosshairs of the government. As I said before, you've been on camera constantly for decades now. Has the CIA whisked you away? Been stopped by the FBI lately? Do you know why that hasn't happened? They haven't been looking for you. You're not really that important. Get over yourself and go have a hot dog!

I must say one thing about these cameras. I severely doubt that they do anything to deter crime. Once they become an accepted part of the landscape, people start to forget they are there. That's what keeps people like Maury Povich in business, showing you criminals who are "Caught In The Act" on video cameras. And then there are the criminals who just don't care if they are seen. I have a son who was like that when he was a baby. We would tell him not to touch something and he would look at us and smile as he slowly reached for it again, as if trying to show us he could do what he wanted to do anyway. Some folks are just going to do what they know is wrong, regardless. In years past, before everyone became so respectful of the sensitive nature of lawbreakers, we called those people criminals, but I digress.

The footage from these cameras can and has been used to identify the criminals and make sure they pay for what they did wrong. That is the true value of these cameras. The ACLU can say whatever they want, but the first time one of their lawyers gets robbed or assaulted in view of one of these cameras, you watch him subpoena the tape as evidence of the crime to win his case. If they should be successful in having these cameras removed and one of their members suffers from a crime in one of the areas that would have been covered, they'll have only themselves to thank. I'll be down at my favorite fishing tackle store, waving at the surveillance cameras.