SF Police Commission Votes on 25 New Video Surveillance Cameras Tonight


For Immediate Release: January 17, 2007

SAN FRANCISCO – The San Francisco Police Commission is scheduled to vote on whether to install 25 new surveillance cameras at eight new locations throughout the city despite opposition from community organizations and groups.  The new locations are in the Mission District, outer Mission and the Tenderloin.

Tonight’s public hearing was scheduled because last November the Commission approved the expansion of video surveillance cameras over objections raised by ACLU-NC regarding inadequate notice to the community, privacy concerns, and the failure of the City to provide any evidence that cameras are an effective deterrent, as required by San Francisco Administrative Code.

Due to the ACLU-NC’s efforts to bring these procedural inadequacies to the City’s attention, the Police Commission will rehear all the camera requests on Wednesday, January 17, 2007 at 5:30 p.m. at San Francisco City Hall, Room 400.

"Study after study has shown that surveillance camera programs do not reduce crime or fear of crime - especially violent crime in city centers,” said Mark Schlosberg, Police Practices Policy Director of the ACLU-NC. “Limited public safety dollars should be spent on proven programs such as improved lighting and foot patrols, rather than on an ineffective and invasive surveillance system."

The latest cameras, with their DVD-quality video footage, are ready-made for abuse. Surveillance cameras have a 360-degree view and records 24 hours a day.  They can zoom in close enough to record the title of the book you are reading, the doctor’s office you are entering, or the face of the person you are talking to or hugging goodbye.

“Once you are tracked by a video surveillance camera and your private information is collected, you don’t know where it will end up, who will see it,  or what it will be used for,” said Nicole Ozer, Technology and Civil Liberties Policy Director of the ACLU-NC. “We all want a safer San Francisco, but video cameras are just not the answer.  We need to work together to find and fund real solutions that will make our communities safer while respecting our civil rights. ”

For more information about camera surveillance visit www.aclunc.org