“I think we should run our (surveillance) technology. If people knew there was a likelihood that there was some level of surveillance, then maybe they would think twice. That clearly relates to not just gun violence, but other types of violence.” – Philadelphia City Council President Darrell Clarke in Clarke has eye on city’s gun violence [via phillytrib.com]

49 COMMENTS

  1. Because nobody ever commits a crime when its painfully obvious they are being filmed.

    Has this clod not seen the abundance of examples of criminals filming themselves or live streaming their crimes?

    If anything filming them will add to the street cred factor. What ghetto trash idiot wouldn’t jump at the chance to show the world how “hard” he is?

      • I can see cameras in your bathrooms, bedrooms, even your cars(Oops omit cars their already there). Maybe they can sew one in your crotch for any moving, or non moving violations….Screw the UK, they have enough problems with mutating into a muslim state.

        • ” Maybe they can sew one in your crotch for any moving, or non moving violations…”

          *Ahem*

          Google ‘POV’ porn. It’s quite the ‘thing’… 😉

    • And the bashful perps will simply wear skimasks.. Poor parenting and utterly corrupt governance are the primary causes of Urban Violence. Don’t expect either one to be fixed anytime soon.

    • WorldstarHipHop. (Yes, all one word. On the plus side, at least it’s spelled correctly.)

      All manner of violence, especially racial (black on white ‘natch) is their stock in trade. All artistically captured on cell phones, with expected musical and vocal accompaniment. And dey finna be damn proud of it.

      (GS650 beat me to it. I start typing and get distracted, then don’t post for 10 minutes…..)

    • People still rob banks, in spite of the incredibly obvious lineup of cameras and the continual barrage of bank robber photos.

      Street cameras will just be convenient free targets.

    • These people obviously have no concept on how to use YouTube, which is amazing since YouTube seems to be the Prog/Libs best friend these days.

      It does not take much effort to search YouTube and find all the videos of those wonderful London surveillance cameras recording crimes in progress night after night after night, and those people are not unaware that they are the most surveilled people in the world. Just last week I saw a video of a random knife attack where a drunk hooligan assaulted two complete strangers with his pocket knife, killing one with a single stab to the heart. The police caught him, of course, because they had his license plate on the video, but the victim is STILL DEAD.

      These cameras are exactly like police work anywhere else in the world; they record the event/crime, the police show up at the scene to take reports, collect the body(s), and then they go looking for the perps.

      You ARE your first responder. The best you can hope for from all those cameras is evidence in court that you were acting in self defense.

  2. I’m sure they will positively identify shooters and prosecute them quickly.
    Not.
    They just elected a DA who lunches with BLM and believes in unlimited illegal immigration.
    Philly needs something but it’s not cameras.

    • A good urban renewal project.

      Maybe something in the 50-kiloton range?

      (Originally heard that about Cleveland back when I was a student there.)

  3. That clearly relates to not just gun violence, but other types of violence.”

    One need look no farther than London (UK) to prove how effective those Orwellian cameras really are…

    What a completely stupid thought process.

  4. Sure! That certainly has eliminated all crime in the UK… Oh wait!

    It continues to astonish me how people can think that doing the same things, getting the same results, and still thinking that doing it again and again will eventually produce a different result. What was that definition of insanity again?

    The hopeful sign is that more and more people are actually coming to this conclusion. And no, they don’t get any publicity so you have to actually go out and talk to people to see that.

    • “What was that definition of insanity again?”

      Or quantum mechanics.

      Actually a lot of harm has been done by ivory-tower types who glommed onto QM as a rationalization for stuff like cultural relativism. Seen it in person and it would have been laughable but for the many liberal arts students in the room. (who also had no clue re QM) nodding along raptly.

      • Yep. French post-modernists. It figures it would be the French philosophers that would be the ones to successfully rebrand the failed psychotic blood soaked ideas of Marxism, from politics based on class to politics based on identity, so that the destruction of Western Civilizlation could continue.

      • Alan Sokal took good advantage of this when he pulled his prank.

        I hear someone pulled a Sokal-style prank with physics on liberal arts majors once again.

        It would be ripe sport for EE’s to pull the same style of practical joke on liberal arts majors (just so we can keep up with the physics jocks), but I think someone has already pulled off a practical joke that dwarfs any joke I could pull off. The joker’s name is Elon Musk, and he’s suckered them but gooooood…

        • “I think someone has already pulled off a practical joke that dwarfs any joke I could pull off. The joker’s name is Elon Musk, and he’s suckered them but gooooood…”

          ?

          In terms of ‘Tesla’, I agree.

          In terms of SpaceX, Musk is delivering (albeit usually late) the goods he contracted to deliver.

          NASA funded the development of his boosters, and SpaceX is now the on-orbit low-cost provider, and by a *large* margin. Look at what ULA charges for tonnage in-orbit.

          That bet by NASA has paid off handsomely for the taxpayers, compared to what ULA was charging for a ride:

          “Air Force budget reveals how much SpaceX undercuts launch prices? Spoiler alert: It’s a lot.”

          (Too long, didn’t read, 300 million. Per launch.)

          “For example, about 14 months ago, the Air Force awarded SpaceX an $83 million contract to launch a GPS 3 satellite. And in March 2017, SpaceX won a contract to launch another GPS 3 satellite for $96.5 million. These represent “all-in, fully burdened costs” to the government, and so they seem to be roughly comparable to the $422 million “unit cost” in the Air Force budget for 2020.”

          https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/06/air-force-budget-reveals-how-much-spacex-undercuts-launch-prices/

          And that’s ignoring the gorilla in the room, the technology development for full booster reusability.

          (And now for the chorus of the voices saying “I could have done that.”)

          Yeah, well, you *didn’t*, Musk actually *did*. America is again the leader in spaceflight tech, after *30 years* of stagnation.

          I ask, where’s the scam with SpaceX? He may be late, but he over-delivers.

          Murrica! Fvck Yeah!

        • Don’t be so glad with Musk, he is a firm believer that common people are too stupid to drive cars and why he believes manually driven cars should be completely outlawed. This is why he has been working on smart cars as his dream is to force everyone to only be able to have full time self driving cars, likely under the control of the government. He is a threat to our freedom of travel. Like gun control laws, smart cars are about control, not safety. Musk thinks he knows better what is best for us, typical elistist thinking.

  5. The cameras get installed under the guise of crime control. That’s the first step and then cameras become nice toys for observing people. And taxpayers foot the bill. It’s all about the surveillance state.

    I saw a documentary on east German Stasi called Karl Marx City. If the GDR had the technology of today they would have controlled the population tighter than anyone would imagine. They had people with film cameras hidden in briefcases and lunch boxes walking around.
    At crowds and public events they filmed everyone and took stills for future leverage.
    After it ended I popped on the news and they were running a fluff piece on the NYPD and how they filmed New Years Eve from the buildings, recording as many faces as possible, attempting to identify troublemakers and terrorists. Damned if it didn’t look just like the Karl Marx City documentary with cameras, binoculars, radios and agents mixing in the crowd.
    We’ve already eclipsed what the communists were doing 30 years ago. While it’s very true the auths need to find and stop terrorists , 99% of what is scooped up is everyday life of Americans.
    I bet that’s a treasure trove of interesting information……..

  6. “While it’s very true the auths need to find and stop terrorists…”

    You can’t have one without the other, actually. Why should there be any “authority” to do either one? Are we not all responsible for ourselves, our families and communities, and for our safety as well?

    When some people are given power over other people, especially against their will, tyranny is the automatic, inevitable result.

    Taking pictures of others without their consent is certainly rude. It wouldn’t be anything but discourtesy if so many people didn’t think there are “authorities” who can and should take those same pictures… with the excuse of stopping “terrorists.” And which is most certainly not happening, of course.

    I’ve been an individual liberty activist for more than 50 years. I’m already on every list the “authorities” have accumulated, no doubt. Probably filed under “batty old lady.” Anyway, here’s my picture. Make of it what you will. 🙂 https://thepriceofliberty.org/2017/08/10/new-picture-of-mamaliberty/

  7. Uhhh, does this clown NOT realize that Chicago has a huge unsolved murder rate, not because of lack of cameras… but because no one will snitch on criminals.

    What the hell is wrong with the British that makes them think that they can answer ALL of America’s problems? You can’t even solve your OWN PROBLEMS UK! Shut the hell up and go back to being a third rate nation.

      • No, YOU can go re-read what I typed. I didn’t say this WAS a British person. I’m trying to point out how people constantly try to point at the UK as a example of ‘good policing’. When in reality the UK has absolutely horrible crime rates across the board outside of just raw shootings. Property crimes, simple and sexual assaults in urban areas are as bad id not worse that the US.

        That said, I should have phrase that differently so as not to suggest the incorrect target of attention. To be clear I’m showing my ire not at this guy as much as a general trend from political hacks like the politician mentioned in the article.

  8. A person who is forced to behave well, isn’t necessarily well-behaved when they have a choice.

    How we act when (we think) there is no observation, no monitoring, no repercussions …. That speaks to who we are and whether we are moral.

    Cameras might or might not reduce crime. They absolutely won’t make us better natured where and when it matters.

    • “…an armed society is a polite society. MANNERS ARE GOOD WHEN ONE MAY HAVE TO BACK UP HIS ACTS WITH HIS LIFE. For me, politeness is the sine qua non of civilization. That’s a personal evaluation only. But gunfighting has a strong biological use. We do not have enough things that kill off the weak and stupid these days. But to stay alive as an armed citizen a man has to be either quick with his wits or with his hands, preferably both. It’s a good thing.” Robert A. Heinlein “Beyond This Horizon”

      [Emphasis mine]

  9. works great in chicago, the single most heavily surveilled city in america, if not the world. cameras do nothing

  10. I guess they have never seen gas station, quick stops or parking lot videos of the criminals robbing or shooting at someone on TV telling people to try to identify them. Those cameras have certainly helped stop the crime. Heads in sand.

    • Those cameras on PRIVATE PROPERTY can and do help to identify some criminals in action. I’ve not seen a lot of evidence that this actually helps to convict and confine these criminals, and find it very unlikely that the criminals see any kind of deterrent factor in being filmed. As someone else said, they film themselves in their crime… It would seem that swift and certain justice for crimes committed would be of far more value.

      Actually, I see the private cameras, personal and business, as most useful in proving what actually happened, especially in a self defense case. Better and more cameras in this case would be an improvement. More government cameras on the street don’t seem to serve any rational purpose.

  11. This idiot, or politician, guess it doesn’t matter, anyways, I’m betting he’s never searched “surveillance video” on YouTube.

  12. So basically an “educated” Democrat who doesn’t realize that his expensive technology can be foiled by a ski mask or using a stolen rental car. I wonder how much he’s trying to swindle out of taxpayers and which one of his buddies will get the expensive government camera contract.

  13. Obviously, cameras don’t prevent crime and I would wager homie owns some stock in the camera company he’d like to see get the contract.

    • His cousin/bro-in-law/son will install a system for the city for only ten times the cost of what it is actually worth. Not counting change-orders. That’s how blue cities work.

  14. Surveillance cameras aren’t any good unless the resulting videos are used to convict perpetrators and remove them from society until they are no longer a threat. The basic failure in Chicago and similar cities is an unwillingness to prosecute and sentence. Decent citizens might be willing to testify if they were confident that the judicial system would use their testimony to get rid of the bad actors. Absent that, there is no up side to cooperating with the police.

  15. Cameras sound like a great idea to me. Let’s start with surveillance on Philadelphia City Council President Darrell Clarke. I’m sure that would prevent a whole lot of crime.

    • All politicians, from the POTUS on down, should be required to wear a head cam with 24/7 feed to the internet. Including folks registered to run for any office.

    • Oh Ralph! I think you are definitely onto something big here! How about total surveillance, audio and video, of EVERY room, vehicle, home, office, toilet cubicle occupied by “elected” officials and their bureaucratic co-conspirators? I’d be delighted to chip in to pay for it. Might well deter a great deal of malfeasance by the “authorities.”

      • Add all the DC lobbyists to that list!

        We want tape on when one of them is getting that underage hooker for the local senator! Or getting rid of the body after!

  16. This reminds me of that commercial about the dental monitor that discovers a huge cavity in the guy’s mouth and the guys like are you going to fix it and he’s like no I’m a dental monitor LOL. You can put cameras up all over the place all it’s going to do is give you good camera footage for the court to report your own murder. Camera systems do nothing to prevent crime they only Aid as a tool two investigators to be able to apprehend the criminals responsible by using the closed circuit TV system. Waste of money just like shotspotter.

  17. Personally, I say lets start with the politicians. They need body cameras.

    Secondly, it is true that gun control and its ilk are a gateway to totalitarianism. You really need a collection of rights, not just one or two in order to preserve them.

  18. This is your gov’t saying it can’t protect you.

    Whenever your POS ahole neighbors who needed a job (your government) say they can’t do something, say “We know, now pack your sh_t, and go home”.

  19. Several thoughts simultaneously….

    First, George Orwell wrote the story of 1984 as a warning, not a guide book.

    Second, cameras do what, exactly, to reduce crime? “I think I’ll go mug that person over there…. no… wait… there’s a camera so never mind. ” said no criminal ever.

    Third, how much is this going to cost the taxpayer?

    Fourth, what happens to all the data? If the po-po want to film everything that’s fine because mechanically it isn’t much different than putting a cop up on a pole with a note book. But! What do they do with all the data collected? I don’t care that they filmed me walking down the street. I very much care about how long that film is kept on file because I am not a criminal. The Government has no business collecting a dossier on my actions just because they happen in public.

  20. I, for one, expect general surveillance cameras to be exactly as effective, even-handed and narrowly-used as red light camera have been. Oh wait. That’s not a bug, it’s a feature.

  21. Actually, for the universal surveillance cameras, the “warning not a guide book” is Farenheight 451.

    They won’t use them to stop crime. But they will have a knowledge base of odd ducks, always someone available they can pick to pin a crime on when the overlords need to look competent. You gotta keep the ratings up, which means the hero has to get the BG, by minute 43.

  22. Funny none of the cameras in London stopped the terrorists??

    But a citizen with a gun might have???

  23. After you get that fail up and running, start the RIFD chip implants of the citizens too.

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