COP'S CAMERAS

Drug Market Is Unscanned

Is it different when a camera -- instead of a police officer -- witnesses
wrongdoing?

That is the crux of a debate over the ever-wider use of surveillance
instruments to monitor the behavior of motorists and citizens using public
spaces. Having already been the "victim" of a surveillance camera sting
(which resulted in considerable profanity and a $50 fine) for speeding on
Suitland Pkwy. S.E., I have calmed down sufficiently to even like the idea.

But District police have announced plans to use a net of linked video
cameras to scan April 20's scheduled anti-war demonstrations. That's raised
the hackles of the American Civil Liberties Union and the protest
organizers, who might well believe they are being catalogued and mug shot
and that the plans serve as a strong disincentive to joining the protests.

The police raise issues of public safety and heightened security after
Sept. 11 and even traffic control. Assistant Chief Terence Gainer insists
that the cameras will not be aimed at places where people might expect to
have privacy.

The only on-Hill site for the 360-degree camera is at Union Station, where
the front plaza of the station is under observation. Another camera sweeps
the entire National Mall.

But what is most bizarre about this innovation, is that D.C. Police
officials have not apparently thought of using such cameras to illuminate
goings on at drug markets in Hill East and elsewhere, particularly near the
15th and 16th and D St. S.E. intersections, whose precise location is
well-known to the cops and residents alike.

Since it's so easy to get rid of the evidence, officers complain that they
can't easily make arrests and that when they do, they can't make their
cases stick in court against the habitues. Even if cameras don't entirely
solve the problem, they would most certainly persuade all but the most
foolhardy dealers to move elsewhere.

All but one site is west of North Capitol Street in areas not known for
high criminal activity. The police plan is to activate the cameras when the
protesters appear and hundreds, if not thousands, of officers are on the
street to control them. The wonder is why this technology, which deters by
threat, is not used more on troubled streets on the Hill.