Chicago citizens support public CCTV measures

Feb 21, 2006 3:51 PM

           

A Chicago Tribune/WGN-TV poll has found that Chicago residents overwhelmingly support Mayor Richard Daley's proposal to increase public video surveillance. The proposal would first expand the total number of CCTV cameras positioned around the city. A newer proposal would require cameras to be installed in thousands of businesses (see Chicago businesses may soon be required to install CCTV). The city's surveillance network already includes more than 2,000 cameras in such sites as transit stations, streets and public housing complexes. Included are about 100 police devices, featuring flashing blue lights, on utility poles in high-crime areas.
Critics have voiced concern about the growing number of electronic eyes, but Daley has made it clear he wants even more.
The poll of 700 voters, conducted Feb. 10-13 by Market Shares Corp., found that eight out of 10 respondents favor the video security network. The support cuts across racial and ethnic lines, with 80 percent of white respondents, 77 percent of African-Americans and 83 percent of Hispanics saying they like the cameras.
When Daley announced an expansion of the police camera program in 2004, state Sen. Rickey Hendon (D-Chicago) contended the devices stigmatize neighborhoods as "blue-light districts" and were being used in minority neighborhoods as a substitute for flesh-and-blood police officers.
The Daley administration is seeking to link security cameras in office and apartment buildings, as well as other private properties, to the city's system on a voluntary basis, connecting them to a 9-1-1 center.

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