Austin Police to expand police cameras

Cassie Gallo reports that the Austin Police Department is expanding its use of surveillance cameras. But here’s the part that really caught my attention:

Acevedo said the technology task force is so beneficial he wants to expand it. Currently, police are working on getting access to the Austin Independent School District’s campus cameras. That way school video would feed directly to the Crime Center.

“When you look at the issue of active shooters, and they come in and try to hurt our kids,” Acevedo said. “The Austin Police Department, in a very short order, will be able to know what’s going on.”

Oh, so we’re back to the “It’s for the kids” justification? Well, hell, sometimes parents abuse kids, right? So let’s insert cameras in every home in Austin and have that feed into APD too, right? Of course, everyone would probably see the problem with that – surveillance in private spaces by the state.  But should the law enforcement arm of the state be surveilling children in schools on the off-chance a shooter will walk into the classrooms or halls?

Instead of investing in surveillance systems to minimize problems once they’ve started, how about being proactive and spend the money on reducing guns and getting people who need help the help they need?

Read more on Keye TV. 

Thanks to Joe Cadillic for this link.