CHICAGO PLAN MAY SOON REQUIRE BUSINESSES TO INSTALL CCTV

Feb 1, 2006 12:00 PM

Licensed businesses that are open for more than 12 hours a day would be required to install security cameras in their stores and parking lots under a proposal by Chicago safety officials.

Law enforcement and emergency-management officials voiced support for the proposal recently at a meeting of the City Council's license committee, while opponents said it would add to the already high cost of doing business in the city, the Chicago Tribune reports.

“The cameras really prevent crime,” Chicago Mayor Richard Daley said at a news conference at the city's 9-1-1 center, where he unveiled a $4 million communications and dispatch center. “The cameras also solve a lot of crime. The terrorist attacks in London were solved by cameras,” he said, referring to bombings last year.

Hundreds of stores, restaurants, bars and gas stations would be required to install cameras under the measure. Offices, apartment buildings and condominiums managed by companies holding city business licenses would also be forced to put up cameras, but factories and warehouses would be exempt.

“This is not intended to punish anyone,” said Alderman Ray Suarez, a sponsor of the measure. “We are talking about public safety.”

Cameras have been responsible in part for a declining number of murders in Chicago, according to law enforcement officials. A sophisticated network of cameras transmits images from high-crime areas to the city's emergency response center.

Police Deputy Chief Michael McCotter said cameras are “an excellent tool as far as crime prevention.”

Daley said he would work with “mom-and-pop” store owners, and “we wouldn't go after them.” But the mayor did not spell out whether they would be exempt from the ordinance.

Many businesses that would fall under the ordinance are not family owned, the mayor asserted, citing currency exchanges as one example.

Among the city's devices are 100 pole-mounted cameras in high-crime areas that officials announced last year were being equipped with gunshot detection technology. Daley says an increase in the total cameras is at the top of his security wish list.

“My concern is the little guy who has a lot of regulatory burdens already,” said Alderman Joe Moore. “This should be a decision left to the individual business owner.”

The president of the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, Gerald Roper, estimated it would cost about $5,000 to equip a small store with cameras.

The Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, Chicagoland Apartment Association and the Illinois Restaurant Association have voiced formal opposition to the proposal.

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